primordial anther, there is little or
no difference, so that it may be said that, for a time, there is no
distinction of sex in the nascent flower, but as development goes on,
the difference becomes perceptible. It cannot at present be stated what
precise circumstances induce the one mass to form mother-cells and
pollen-grains, and the other to develop an embryo sac and germinal
vesicles. Position and external circumstances may have some indirect
effect, and it may, perhaps, be significant that in all the instances of
polliniferous ovules, the ovular structures have been exposed on an open
carpel or otherwise, in place of being confined within the cavity of a
closed ovary, as under ordinary circumstances. Even among Conifers the
ovuligerous scales are so closely packed that there is little or no
exposure of the ovules. But, apart from all speculative notions as to
the relation between the structure and functions of the anther and of
the ovule respectively, and of the possibility or the reverse of
parthenogenesis, it will clearly be necessary in any future alleged
occurrence of the latter phenomenon to ascertain whether any or all of
the apparent ovules are, or are not, anthers in disguise.

=Homomorphic flowers of "Compositae."=--In a large section of the
_Compositae_ there is, as is well known, a distinction between the
florets of the "disc" and those of the "ray," the latter being ligulate,
the former tubular.

In what are erroneously called double flowers in this order, _e.g._ in
the Chrysanthemum, Dahlia, &c. &c., the florets are all ligulate. This
change is sometimes classed with peloria, but there is no abnormal
regularity in these cases. On the other hand, were the ligulate florets
to be all replaced by tubular ones, the term peloria would be more
strictly applicable. It will be remembered that in the sub-order
_Liguliflorae_, the florets are naturally all ligulate, so that the
change above mentioned is not in itself a very grave one.

=Heterotaxy affecting the inflorescence.=--Under the head of
Prolification, Heterogamy, &c., various deviations from the normal
inflorescence are alluded to. In this place, therefore, it is only
necessary to mention certain rare deviations from the customary
arrangement of the inflorescence, such as the change from a definite
centrifugal form of inflorescence to an indefinite centripetal one. This
occurs occasionally in roses, where the shoot, instead of terminating in
a flower-