as far as I have seen. No doubt, however, though I tried my best, I shall be proved wrong in many points. Botany is a new subject to me. With respect to the protrusion of pollen-tubes, you might like to hear (if you do not already know the fact) that, as I saw this summer, in the little imperfect flowers of Viola and Oxalis, which never open, the pollen-tubes always come out of the pollen-grain, whilst still in the anthers, and direct themselves in a beautiful manner to the stigma seated at some little distance. I hope that you will continue your very interesting observations.
LETTER 634. TO J. SCOTT. Down, November 19th [1862].
I am much obliged for your letter, which is full of interesting matter. I shall be very glad to look at the capsule of the Acropera when ripe, and pray present my thanks to Mr. MacNab. (634/1. See Letter 608 (Lindley, December 15th, 1861). Also "Fertilisation of Orchids," Edition II., page 172, for an account of the observations on Acropera which were corrected by Scott.) I should like to keep it till I could get a capsule of some other member of the Vandeae for comparison, but ultimately all the seeds shall be returned, in case you would like to write any notice on the subject. It was, as I said (634/2. Letter 633.), only "in desperation" that I suggested that the flower might be a male and occasionally capable of producing a few seeds. I had forgotten Gartner's remark; in fact, I know only odds and ends of Botany, and you know far more. One point makes the above view more probable in Acropera than in other cases, viz. the presence of rudimentary placentae or testae, for I cannot hear that these have been observed in the male plants. They do not occur in male Lychnis dioica, but next spring I will look to male holly flowers. I fully admit the difficulty of similarity of stigmatic chamber in the two Acroperas. As far as I remember, the blunt end of pollen-mass would not easily even stick in the orifice of the chamber. Your view may be correct about abundance of viscid matter, but seems rather improbable. Your facts about female flowers occurring where males alone ought to occur is new to me; if I do not hear that you object, I will quote the Zea case on your authority in what I am now writing on the varieties of the maize. (634/3. See "Animals and Plants," Edition II., Volume I., page 339: "Mr. Scott has lately observed the rarer case of female flowers on a true male panicle, and likewise hermaphrodite flowers." Scott's paper on the subject is in "Trans. Bot. Soc. Edinburgh," Volume VIII. See Letter 151, Volume I.) I am glad to hear that you are now working on the most curious subject of parthenogenesis. I formerly fancied that I observed female Lychnis dioica seeded without pollen. I send by this post a paper on Primula, which may interest you. (634/4. "Linn. Soc. Journal," 1862.) I am working on the subject, and if you should ever observe any analogous case I should be glad to hear. I have added another very clever pamphlet by Prof. Asa Gray. Have you a copy of my Orchis book? If you have not, and would like one, I should be pleased to send one. I plainly see that you have the true spirit of an experimentalist and good observer. Therefore, I ask whether you have ever made any trials on relative fertility of varieties of plants (like those I quote from Gartner on the varieties of Verbascum). I much want information on this head, and on those marvellous cases (as some Lobelias and Crinum passiflora) in which a plant can be more easily fertilised by the pollen of another species than by its own good pollen. I am compelled to write in haste. With many thanks for your kindness.
LETTER 635. TO J. SCOTT. Down, 20th [1862?].
What a magnificent capsule, and good Heavens, what a number of seeds! I never before opened pods of larger orchids. It did not signify a few seed being lost, as it would be hopeless to estimate number in comparison with other species. If you sow any, had you not better sow a good many? so I enclose small packet.