267 
lying mostly in the same plane and crossing the pathway of our 
plant at various angles. 
Such as were above ours had to be severed in order to liberate 
the one we were in quest of. At varying distances we found 
other clusters of roots, from each of which a single, large, peltate. 
leaf rose about two feet above the surface of the water, while in 
the axil of several of them there was a flower stalk as tall. At 
many of the nodes we found a branch, each of which we traced 
until it, like the main stem, was accidentally broken, except in two 
instances, in which we secured the growing points. Upon finding 
our plants disconnected with the earth at all points, after about 
four hours’ assiduous labor, we carefully took it on board, rowed 
ashore, spread it out upon the grass, and with the miller’s “ten- 
foot pole” accurately measured it. The main stem was forty- 
seven feet long, and the combined length of the branches forty- 
three; in all ninety feet! It was to us a revelation, and exceed- 
ingly interesting, but it would have been even more so had we 
succeeded in unearthing the exézre plant which, as it lay upon the 
ground before us, proved itself to be an aquatic ve of gigantic 
proportions. 
The internodes were smooth, dull-white and of a uniform size 
throughout the main stem; they were about half an inch in diam- 
eter and were furnished with seven large air passages arranged in 
a circle equi-distant from a small central one and the epidermis. 
They were plentifully supplied with spiral tissue which could be 
drawn out a quarter of a yard before complete separation took 
place. These internodes varied in length from two feet, which 
was the shortest one in the main stem to five feet three inches, the 
longest in our specimen. ‘Those of’the branches were much 
shorter and their diameter less. Zong internodes insured the sep- 
aration of the leaves so that they could fully develop without 
coming in contact with each other, and perhaps the nature of the 
soil favored their growth, in confirmation of which we have seen 
Carex vestita Willd., growing in compact soil with stolons only a 
few inches long, whereas in an open porous soil they sometimes 
exceed two feet in length between the plants. 
The diameter of the nodes was considerably greater than that 
of the internodes and it was from these alone the roots originated. 
