Note 48 — ON THE HYPOTHESIS OF EVOLUTION: PHYSICAL AND METAPHYSICAL.

Meehan states that the upper limbs and strong laterals in coniferæ and other trees produce female flowers and cones, and the lower and more interior branches the male flowers. What he points out is in harmony with the position here maintained—namely, that the female characters include more of those which are embryonic in the males, than the male characters include of those which are embryonic in the female: the female flowers are the product of the younger and more growing portions of the tree—that is, those last produced (the upper limbs and new branches)—while the male flowers are produced by the older or more mature portions—that is, lower limbs or more axial regions.

Meehan’s observations coincide with those of Thury and others on the origin of sexes in animals and plants, which it appears to admit of a similar explanation.