Page:Narrative of a survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia, Volume 2.djvu/585

 also done, that the common account of the structure of Ephedra was incorrect, its supposed style being in reality the elongated tubular apex of a membranous envelope, and the included body being evidently analogous to that in other genera of Coniferæ.

To the earliest of the opinions here quoted, that which considers the female flower of Coniferæ and Cycadeæ as a naked pistillum, there are two principal objections. The flrst of these arises from the perforation of the pistillum, and the exposure of that point of the ovulum where the embryo is formed to the direct action of the pollen; the second from the too great simplicity of structure of the supposed ovulum, which I have shown accords better with that of the nucleus as existing in ordinary cases.

To the opinions of MM. Richard and Mirbel, the first objection does not apply, but the second acquires such additional weight, as to render those opinions much less probable, it seems to me, than that which I have endeavoured to support.

In supposing the correctness of this opinion to be admitted, a question connected with it, and of some importance, would still remain, namely, whether in Cycadeæ and Coniferæ the ovula are produced on an ovarium of reduced functions and altered appearance, or on a rachis or receptacle. In other words, in employing the language of an hypothesis, which, with some alterations, I have elsewhere attempted to explain and defend, respecting the formation of the sexual organs in Phænogamous plants, whether the ovula in these two families originate in a modified leaf, or proceed directly from the stem.