NERINE NARCISSUS. 



69 



nitric acid and strontium nitrate are very much alike, 

 the most distinct difference being noted in the curves 

 during the first five minutes, yet, while there is a very 

 close correspondence in the courses of the curves, there 

 are curious alterations in the relative positions, as for 

 instance, while the curve of N. curvifolia var. fothergilli 

 major is the lowest and the curve of N. bowdeni inter- 

 mediate in the nitric-acid reactions, the curve of the 

 former is next to the lowest and that of the latter the 

 lowest in the stroutium-nirate reactions, showing that 

 there are inherent important differences in the relations 

 of these reagents to the starch molecules. Similar dif- 

 ferences are very strikingly presented by certain starches 

 of other genera which show more or less marked differ- 

 ences in the actions of these two reagents. 



(3) Notable variations are shown in the degree of 

 separation of the curves of the five starches in each of 

 the charts. In the chart for hydrochloric acid all of the 

 curves run closely together, those of N. crispa and 2V. 

 elegans being identical, and those of the other three 

 being almost identical. In the reactions with chloral 

 hydrate the curves of 2V. curvifolia var. fothergilli major, 

 N. elegans, and 2V. sarniensis var. corusca major are 

 very nearly the same, but those of 2V. crispa and N. bow- 

 deni are well separated from the former and from each 

 other. In the reactions with nitric acid, potassium 

 sulphocyanate, and potassium sulphide all the curves are 

 fairly to well separated. 



(4) In each chart the several curves bear the same 

 position-relationship, there being no crossing of curves, 

 so that if a given curve is the highest at the 5-minute 

 interval it will not fall below another, although there 

 may be dispersion or approximation of the curves during 

 the progress of gelatinizatiou in the latter case they may 

 become identical. 



(5) The order of position of the five curves varies in 

 the different reactions, as follows, in each case beginning 

 with the highest and proceeding in order to the lowest: 



Chloral hydrate: N. curv. var. foth. maj., N. elegans, N. earn. var. 



cor. maj., N. crispa, N. bowdeni. 

 Nitric acid: N. elegans, N. crispa, N. bowdeni, N. earn. var. cor. 



maj., N. curv. var. foth. maj. 

 Hydrochloric acid: N. crispa, N. elegans, N. curv. var. foth. maj., 



N. bowdeni, N. sarn. var. cor. maj. 

 Potassium sulphocyanate: N. bowdeni, N. crispa, N. elegans, N. sarn. 



var. cor. maj., N. curv. var. foth. maj. 

 Potassium sulphide: N. crispa, N. sarn. var. cor. maj., N. curv. var. 



foth. maj., N. bowdeni, N. elegans. 

 Strontium nitrate: N. elegans, N. crispa, N. sarn. var. cor. maj., 



N. curv. var. foth. maj., N. bowdeui. 



The variations in relative positions are quite remark- 

 able and are expressions of definite physico-chemical 

 peculiarities of the starch molecules in relation to the 

 reagents. It will be observed that 2V. curvifolia var. 

 fothergilli major is the highest in the reactions with 

 chloral hydrate, but the lowest with nitric acid and 

 potassium sulphocyanate ; 2V. elegans is highest with 

 nitric acid and strontium nitrate, but the lowest with 

 potassium sulphide; 2V. bowdeni is the highest with 

 potassium sulphocyanate, but the lowest with chloral 

 hydrate and strontium nitrate, etc. It is of interest 

 to note that while the charts for nitric acid and strontium 

 nitrate bear a very close resemblance, as previously stated, 

 the order of curves is not the same in both. 



(6) In comparing the chart for hydrochloric acid 

 with the abscissa? for hydrochloric acid of the composite- 

 curve charts (E 10, E 11, and E 12) it will be seen that 

 in the latter the differences between the parents is seem- 

 ingly much exaggerated. This latter is owing to the 

 very slow gelatinization after 15 minutes, rendering 

 the curves of 2V. bowdetii and 2V. sarniensis var. corusca 

 major disproportionately low. Both curves should per- 

 haps be brought up as high as the 20-minute abscissa. 

 The error is, however, of no essential importance, inas- 

 much as it does not give rise to error in the order of 

 reactivity or essentially modify the generic type of curve. 



(7) The hybrids in all three sets exhibit the same 

 fundamental peculiarities in relation to their respective 

 parents, in so far as each hybrid may in some reactions 

 be intermediate, higher, lower, or the same as one or the 

 other parent or both parents, as the case may be. It can 

 not be foretold from the reactions of the parents with any 

 given reagent what the reaction of the hybrid is likely 

 to be. The hybrids tend to follow one parent closer than 

 the other, in some reactions one parent and in others the 

 other, there not being in any one of the three sets a uni- 

 versal sexual prepotency. In the first set the hybrids 

 bear, on the whole, a closer relationship to the seed 

 parent, but in the second and third sets to the pollen 

 parents. In the first and second sets, in each of which 

 there are two hybrids, the hybrids exhibit differences 

 between each other in some reactions as marked as, or 

 more marked than, the differences between the parents, 

 but commonly the hybrids tend to be closely alike, espe- 

 cially when the parents are close, but there is no rule. 

 As regards the latter, for instance, in the chloral-hydrate 

 reactions of the first set (Chart D 190), the parents are 

 well separated and likewise the two hybrids ; in the sec- 

 ond set (Chart D 211), the parents are well separated, 

 but both hybrids are the same and also the same as one 

 parent; and in the third set (Chart D 232) the parents 

 are the same, but the hybrid is well separated from the 

 parents, and so on with other reactions. 



(8) No more striking feature seems to be presented 

 than that of the shifting parental relationships of the 

 two hybrids of each of the first two sets in the several 

 reactions, as referred to in Section 6 and fully tabulated 

 in Chapter V. 



13. COMPARISONS OF THE STARCHES OF NARCISSUS 

 POETICUS ORNATTJS, ]ST. POETICUS POETARUM, N. 

 POETICUS HERRICK, AND N. POETICUS DANTE. 



In histologic characteristics, polariscopic figures, 

 reactions with seleuite, qualitative reactions with iodine, 

 and qualitative reactions with various chemical reagents 

 all four starches show properties in common in varying de- 

 grees of development together with certain individualities 

 which collectively in each case serve to be characteristic. 

 The starch of Narcissus poeticus poetarum in compari- 

 son with that of 2V. poeticus ornatus has a larger number 

 of compound grains, more aggregates that are formed of 

 a single primary grain inclosed in a secondary deposit, 

 more irregularity of the grains, less distinctness of the 

 hilurn, more extensive fissuration but less branching, 

 and lamellation not so distinct or so coarse ; the poloriza- 

 tion figure is less often well defined and the lines are 

 more apt to be bisected and bent and less often form 



