COMPARATIVE ANATOMY OF THE CYCADACES. 447 
central cylinder, so that throughout their course they appear 
in transverse section. They contain isodiametrie, reticulate 
tracheides. In one case such a strand is seen to divide into 
three distinct parts, apparently possessing root-structure, of 
which the middle strand passes directly outwards, and one to 
either side in a tangential direction. It is possible that these 
strands belong to an effete system of lateral roots; and it is 
probable that they are of the same nature as the large compound 
strands described on a previous page as occurring in the cortex of 
the hypocotyl of Cycas revoluta, Thunb., but one cannot speak 
with any certainty. Two cases of dichotomous branching of a 
lateral root were observed in a younger seedling, in which the 
root-stele passes directly outward from the diarch stele of the 
parent root and in the outer part of the cortex dichotomizes 
so that each branch diverges to one side, passing obliquely 
away; a knob-like projection on directly opposite sides of 
the root indicates the position of the young lateral roots, 
which, however, would probably never become anything more 
than rudiments. 
Lower down the root becomes extremely swollen; owing 
to the enormous increase of the parenchymatous tissues, the 
vascular strands composing the central cylinder become widely 
separated and scattered throughout the ground-tissue, and are 
relatively but little developed and few in number. Characteristic 
thin-walled sclerides occur in groups in the pith, cortex, or 
medullary rays of the xylem. 
In the lower portion of the root, where its fleshy consistence 
has disappeared, the characteristic diarch plate is found. The 
pericyele consists of from 5-8 layers of cells and is bounded by a 
conspicuous endodermis. Dark-walled fibres occur scattered in 
the cortex. Two layers of periderm are to be observed—the one 
external and hypodermal, the other internal and occurring 
immediately to the outside of the pericycle. 
STANGERIA PARADOXA, T. Moore. 
Young Seedling. 
It was my good fortune to be able to investigate a young 
seedling of this plant grown in the Royal Gardens. 
As the adult plant exhibits, both in its foliage and in the 
mesarch structure of the vascular bundles of the peduncle, a 
