Newcoinbe, Sensitive Life of Asparagus plumosus. 21 



declined 30° — after 12 hrs. vertical — after 12 hrs. declined 

 15° — after 15 hrs. vertical, and so continued for 2 days when 

 experiment ended. Total hight 34 cm. Period of Observation 

 36 days. 



2) Shoot required 12 days to grow from 2 cm below surface 

 of earth to 15 cm above earth, temperature averaging about 22°. 

 All this time the shoot was erect, then 1.5 cm of apex bent 15° 

 from vertical — thus for 27 hrs., then vertical — after 3 hrs. 45 min. 

 declined 15° — after 55 min. vertical — after 10 hrs. 35 min. 

 declined 20°; from this time tili the end of the experiment 35 days 

 after the beginning, total hight being 66 cm, the tip nutated up 

 and down touching all points of the compass in irregulär move- 

 ments, never declining below 40° from the vertical, usually de- 

 clining but 15° to 20°, never pausing more than 24 hrs. in one 

 Position, and erecting itself to the vertical position 11 times. For 

 a period of 14 days, observations were made from 3 to 11 times 

 daily. 



3) Shoot 14 cm tall in cone when nutation began, 6 mm of 

 tip declining 10° — after 1 day vertical — after 1 day declined 

 10° — after 1 day vertical after 1 day declined 20° — next 

 daj r declined to 30° — next day declined to 45° — after 1 hr. 

 vertical — after 7 hrs. declined 15° — after 2 days declined to 

 30° — after 2 days declined to60°, and so continued for 2 weeks 

 when experiment ended. Total hight of shoot 33 cm. Period bf 

 Observation 35 days. 



The foregoing three examples give the behavior of shoots 

 thru a period within which these shoots in normal conditions 

 would have developed the usual diageotropic frond. The following 

 example is illustrative of the later behavior of 5 shoots which 

 were followed to hights of from 109 cm as the lowest to 193 cm 

 as the highest. All of these shoots were convered with the paper 

 cones, or kept in a dark-room from the bud condition under the 

 soil to the end of the experiment. Observations on number (4) 

 were made every day, and for periods of several days at a time 

 were made from 2 to 6 times a day. It is not to be supposed 

 that all positions of these nutating stems were seen ; but the ob- 

 servations were sufficiently frequent to detect any declination lasting 

 24 hours. Moreover a pause of 24 hours or more in one position, 

 divergent by 20° or more from the vertical, must invariably be 

 marked permanently in the stem by a considerable angle with the 

 vertical. A summary of observations on one shoot follows: 



4) For 22 days after Coming above soil, plant, always in 

 dark, showed no noticeable Variation of tip from vertical, hight 

 then 39 cm — then declined 30° for less than 9 hrs. — then 

 vertical for 45 hrs. — then declined 25 ° for 20 hrs. — then vertical 

 for 24 hrs. — then declined 30° for 21 hrs. — then vertical for 

 5 hrs. then declined 40° for 19 hrs. — then rose to 20° from 

 vertical for 12 hrs. — then declined to 40° and for 6 days nutated 

 up and down and laterally with declinations between 20° and 70° 



then vertical for 24 hrs, — then declined to 45 ° for 9 days — 



