be very anomalous in orchids, i.e. 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