CYCAS CIRCINALIS. 71 
from 4 to 10. As these groups were finally separated from the bombs they were 
discharged with considerable velocity into the ambient liquid, the bomb itself sul- 
fering a corresponding recoil, *  * * The field of vision in the vicinity of the 
bomb became partially covered with these long crystals, but the supply within the 
bomb did not seem to diminish materially. There must have been hundreds of 
the arrows in one single spheroid. * * * If the plant is not thoroughly c voked 
its acrid qualities remain in some degree, If thoroughly cooked they are destroyed, 
It is interesting to note that in cases where the leaves are chewed, either fresh or 
dried, the stinging sensation is not perceived until a few moments afterward, and in 
many cases it is not until the taro has been eaten that the prickly sensation in’ the 
lining of the mouth and throat shows that it has not been thoroughly cooked. * x 
Alocasia indiea, a plant closely allied to the taro plant, is so acrid that the Pacific 
Islanders resort to it only in cases of great searcity of food, The disagre sable effects 
caused by these plants seem to be contined to the temporary prickling sensation of 
the mouth and throat. They are undoubtedly nutritious and are held in high esteem 
by the natives. 
The réle played by raphides in protecting plants from herbivorous 
animals has been discussed by Otto Kuntze, in the Heft zur Botanis- 
chen Zeitung, L877, and by Ernst Stahl in the Jenaische Zeitscrift fiir 
Naturwissenshaft und Medicine, 1888, The phenomenon of the explo- 
sion or shooting forth of the needles was first noticed by Turpin in 
1836. He called the capsules containing them **biforines,” errone- 
ously supposing them to be provided with an opening at each end. 
CYCAS CIRCINALIS AND ITS FPECUNDATION. 
One of the most interesting plants growing in Guam is the ‘S fadan,” 
or “federiko” (Cycas efre/nalis), the muts of which were a food 
staple of the aborigines before the discovery of the island. Its eylin- 
drical, scarred trunk, and stiff, pinnated, glossy leaves suggest ideal 
pictures of the forests of the Carboniferous age. (PL. VILL.) Its 
nuts, poisonous when crude, but abounding in starch, are converted 
into a nutritious arrowroot, or sago, in several tropical countries. 
But its chief interest is in the structure of its inflorescence and the 
manner of its fructification. The group of plants to which it belongs 
occupies a place intermediate between the flowering plants and the 
eryptogams. Like the former, it has fruit with a large starchy endo- 
carp, but, as in the latter, fecundation is accomplished by means of 
spermatozoids and archegonia, corresponding to the male and female 
elements in animals. The male inflorescence is in the form of an 
erect cone consisting of modified staminal leaves which bear on the 
under surface globose pollen sacs corresponding to mMicrosporanga, 
The female inflorescence consists of a tuftof spreading carpellary leaves 
having their margins coarsely notched. (Pl. XIV.) In the notches 
are situated the ovules, which are devoid of any protective covering. 
They correspond to macrosporangia, Pollination is effected by the 
wind. The pollen settles on the ovules and sends down a tube into 
the tissue of the nucellus. Archegonia are formed, egg cells develop, 
