FRUIT OF MELOCANNA BAMBUSOIDES, 421 
disposition of proteids and stareh in the grass endosperm, namely, proteids in a 
peripheral layer and starch in the remainder, has found a parallel in the seutellum of 
Melocanna. But **obliterated " as the endosperm may be, and reduced to the state of 
a diaphragm, it is certainly not without its share in the economy of the Welocanna fruit. 
Sachs, in his paper on the germination of the grasses (* Zur Entwicklungsgeschichte der 
Gräser,” Botan. Zeit. xx. 1862, p. 146) pointed to the presence in certain grasses of an 
obliterated tissue between the starch containing endosperm and the scutellum, and he 
showed that it was a depleted portion of the endosperm.  Tscehireh called this tissue 
* Quellsehicht " (Tschirch & Oesterle, Anatom. Atlas, p. 184, Q in fig. 17 of pl. 42), a 
name which appears to me not well chosen, as it is neither analogous nor homologous 
to what German botanists ordinarily call * Quellschicht,” 4. e., the mucilaginous layers 
in the testa of seeds, e. g. Linum or Salvia. As this obliterated tissue seems to bea rather 
common occurrence in seeds also outside the order Graminez, a more appropriate term 
is desirable, and it seems to me that this tissue might be conveniently designated as 
“diaphragm.” It is clear that in seeds possessing such a “ diaphragm” the food reserves 
of the endosperm have to pass the diaphragm in solution, but its actual functions are 
still obscure. Possibly it acts as a kind of filter. In a way analogous to that described 
by Sachs, the diaphragm of Melocanna is interposed between the store-organ (or rather 
one of the store-organs) and the scutellum, and its functions are no doubt also similar. 
Although the scutellum has replaced the endosperm to some extent, it has not lost its 
original character as haustorium. It has rather increased in bulk and sucking surface, and 
become equipped with a highly developed system of mestome strands for the conveyance 
of the reserve materials to the fast growing embryo. In accordance, however, with the 
changed structure of the Welocanna fruit, it directs its energies towards the starch-filled 
pericarp, inducing there those chemical changes which result in the break-up and the 
disappearance of the starch, the greater portion of the cell-walls, and the remainder of 
the cell-contents generally. The carbohydrates pass through the inner cell-layers 
of the pericarp and the diaphragm most likely as glucose, the proteids as asparagine. 
The presence of the latter in the diaphragm and in the small cavity left occasionally 
between it and the scutellum was strikingly demonstrated in some fruits which hal 
been sent in alcohol and had just started germinating when collected. In them the 
asparagine had erystallized, the crystais being either embedded in the diaphragm or 
attached to its inner surface, or sometimes to the surface of the scutellum. They were 
fairly numerous and up to 2 mm. long. Those which were found on the scutellum 
could easily be taken up, otherwise they had to be scraped or pulled from the diaphragm. 
The occurrence of the crystals suggested, under the circumstances, at once the presence 
of asparagine, and their solubility in water, as well as their behaviour "when heated, 
seemed to confirm my assumption. To make quite sure, Isent a quantity of erystals 
to my friend Professor Hans Molisch, of Prague. He subjected them to further tests 
with the same result, and, finally, Mr. G. F. H. Smith, of the Mineralogical Department 
of the British Museum, determined them erystallographically as levo-asparagine. 
We have still to consider the embryo proper (the embryo minus the scutellum). It 
