ovula, which it enters, if I rightly understand him, by the 544] funiculus umbilicalis: at the same time he seems to admit the existence of the aperture in the coat.
In 1745, Needham,[1] and in 1770, Gleichen,[2] adopt the hypothesis of Morland, somewhat modified, however, as they consider the particles in the grains of Pollen, not the grains themselves, to be the embryos, and that they enter the ovula by the umbilical cord.
Adanson, in 1763,[3] states the Embryo to exist before fecundation, and that it receives its first excitement from a vapour or aura proceeding from the Pollen, conveyed to it through the tracheæ of the style, and entering the Ovulum by the umbilical cord.
Spallanzani,[4] who appears to have carefully examined the unimpregnated Ovula of a considerable variety of plants, found it in general to be a homogeneous, spongy, or gelatinous body; but in two Cucurbitaceæ to consist of a nucleus surrounded by three coats. Of these coats he rightly supposes the outermost to be merely the epidermis of the middle membrane or testa. Of the relative direction of the testa and inner coat in the two plants in question he takes no notice, nor does he in any case mention an aperture in the Ovulum.
Gærtner, who, in the preface to his celebrated work, displays great erudition in every branch of his subject, can hardly, however, be considered an original observer in this part. He describes the unimpregnated Ovulum as a pulpy homogeneous globule, whose epidermis, then scarcely distinguishable, separates in a more advanced stage, and becomes the testa of the seed, the inner membrane of which is 545] entirely the product of fecundation.[5] He asserts also that the Embryo constantly appears at that point of the ovulum where the ultimate branches of the umbilical vessels perforate the inner membrane; and therefore mistakes the apex for the base of the nucleus.
