=Gymnospermous Fruits.=—In pine, spruces, and their kin, there is no fruit in the sense in which the word is used in the preceding pages, because _there is no ovary_. The ovules are naked or uncovered, in the axils of the scales of the young cone, and they have neither style nor stigma. The pollen falls directly on the mouth of the ovule. The ovule ripens into a seed, which is usually winged. Because the ovule is not borne in a sac or ovary, these plants are called =gymnosperms= (Greek for “naked seeds”). All the true cone-bearing plants are of this class; also certain other plants, as red cedar, juniper, yew. The plants are monœcious or sometimes diœcious. The staminate flowers are mere naked stamens borne beneath scales, in small yellow catkins which soon fall. The pistillate flowers are naked ovules beneath scales on cones that persist (Fig. 29). Gymnospermous seeds may have several cotyledons. SUGGESTIONS.—=168.= Study the following fruits, or any five fruits chosen by the teacher, and answer the questions for each: Apple, peach, bean, tomato, pumpkin. What is its form? Locate the scar left by the stem. By what kind of stem was it attached? Are there any remains of the blossom at the blossom end? Describe texture and colour of surface. Divide the fruit into the seed vessel and the surrounding part. Has the fruit any pulp or flesh? Is it within or without the seed vessel? Is the seed vessel simple or sub-divided? What is the number of seeds? Are the seeds free, attached to the wall of the vessel, or to a support in the centre? Are they arranged in any order? What kind of wall has the seed vessel? What is the difference between a peach stone and a peach seed? =169.= The nut fruits are always available for study. Note the points suggested above. Determine what the meat or edible part represents, whether cotyledons or not. Figure 248 is suggestive. =170.= Mention all the fleshy fruits you know, tell where they come from, and refer them to their proper groups. =171.= What kinds of fruit can you buy in the market, and to what groups or classes do they belong? Of which fruits are the seeds only, and not the pericarps, eaten? =172.= An ear of corn is always available for study. What is it—a fruit or a collection of fruits? How are the grains arranged on the cob? How many rows do you count on each of several ears? Are all the rows on an ear equally close together? Do you find an ear with an odd number of rows? How do the parts of the husk overlap? Does the husk serve as protection from rain? Can birds pick out the grains? How do insect enemies enter the ear? How and when do weevils lay eggs on corn? =173.= _Study a grain of corn._ Is it a seed? Describe the shape of a grain. Colour. Size. Does its surface show any projections or depressions? Is the seed-coat thin or thick? Transparent or opaque? Locate the hilum. Where is the