Gärtner gradually increased the number of pollen grains until he succeeded in fertilizing a Malva, and has proved that many grains are first expended in the development, or, as he expresses it, in the satiation, of the pistil and ovarium. Again, when one plant is fertilized by a widely distinct species, it often happens that the ovarium is fully and quickly developed without any seeds being formed; or the coats of the seeds are formed without any embryo being developed therein. So much, then, in proof of the direct action of the male element on the somatic-tissues of another organism. It remains to show that a similar action may be exercised by this element on the somatic tissues of its own organism. This has been proved by Hildebrand, who found “that in the normal fertilization of several Orchideae, the action of the plant’s own pollen is necessary for the development of the ovarium; and that this development takes place not only long before the pollen tubes have reached the ovules, but even before the placentae and ovules have been formed”; so that with these orchids the pollen acts directly on their own ovaria, as a preliminary to the formation of the ovules which are subsequently to be fertilized. It is to be regretted that Professor Weismann has not given us his opinion upon this whole class of facts, for assuredly they appear directly to contradict his theory. The theory is, “that the germ-plasm and the somato-plasm have always occupied different spheres”: the fact is, that the germ-plasm may directly act upon the somato-plasm, both within and beyond the limits of the same organism. * * * * * Hitherto we have been considering certain very definite facts, which seem to prove that the germinal elements are able directly to affect the somatic-tissues. We have next to consider such facts as seem to prove the opposite side of a reciprocal relationship—viz., that the somatic-tissues are able directly to affect the germinal elements. And here there are two distinct lines of evidence to be distinguished.