only about one per cent. contained an embryo. Similar seeds were more carefully examined by Mr. Gosse, who found that two per cent. contained an embryo. About twenty-five per cent. of the seeds from a self-fertilised capsule of Lælia cinnabarina, also sent to me by Mr. Anderson, were found to be good. It is therefore doubtful whether the capsules spontaneously self-fertilised in the West Indies, as described by Dr. Crüger, were fully and properly fertilised. Fritz Müller informs me that he has discovered in South Brazil an Epidendrum which bears three pollen-producing anthers, and this is a great anomaly in the order. This species is very imperfectly fertilised by insects; but by means of the two lateral anthers the flowers are regularly self-fertilised. Fritz Müller assigns good reasons for his belief that the appearance of the two additional anthers in this Epidendrum, is a case of reversion to the primitive condition of the whole group.[1]
- ↑ See also 'Bot. Zeitung,' 1869, p. 226, and 1870, p. 152.
