,8,,. IS STIGMARIA A ROOT OR A RHIZOME ? 367 



symmetrical emergences ; functionally they obviously performed the 

 work of root-hairs ; anyhow, they were not branches in the ordinary 

 acceptation of the word, and in the sense in which the dichotomy of 

 the large roots is a true ramification. 



The external characters of Stigmavia " are all in harmony with 

 the hypothesis that it is a rhizome, and, indeed, so far as they go, 

 give unqualified support to it." I must confess that this statement of 

 my old friend almost takes my breath away. It is difficult in a short 

 controversial communication like this to go into the details of the 

 subject, but I say unhesitatingly that, in my mind, and I think I know 

 as well as most people what the detailed features oi Stigmavia are, that 

 no dogmatic statement could be further from the truth. I ask my 

 readers to go over the three definitions of a rhizome quoted at the 

 beginning of this communication. First and foremost we have 

 always root, leaves, and, at intervals, growing buds, one of the 

 latter especially being present at the apex of the rhizome, and that 

 one usually being the largest and the strongest, while the retral end 

 of the rhizome is usually either already dead and decayed, or in process 

 of becoming so. Now I ask anyone who is unable to visit the 

 museum of Owens College and thus see the magnificent specimen 

 preserved there, to consult my Monograph in the publications of the 

 Palasontographical Society. Though a poor substitute for the grandeur 

 of the original as it is now preserved, let him refer to the photograph 

 on plate xv., or to the diagram drawn to scale on page 46, and tell me 

 where to find any one of the features of a rhizome. Instead of the 

 retral death and decay of such structures, we have the four primary 

 uncompressed roots, ancient as the central stem itself, and having a 

 mean diameter of 32 inches, but the various divisions of which 

 ultimately tapered to a very small diameter. On page 49 of the same 

 Monograph the reader will learn how I traced on the spot one root 

 of a similar but yet larger tree, along its subdivided and tapering 

 length for 37 feet 4 inches, reduced at its apex to a mere point. 

 What is there here corresponding to the swollen bud which occupies 

 the distal lengthening extremity of a true rhizome ? I further ask, 

 Where are the lateral branches, each terminating also in a growing 

 bud, seen in every rhizome ? 



In addition to this, what have we in the shape of appendages 

 corresponding to the admixture of leafy growths forcing their way 

 upwards, and of the roots bending geotropically downwards, to bury 

 themselves in the soil ? Not one of these features, characteristic of a 

 rhizome, exists, and yet we are asked to believe that not only are 

 these structures " all in harmony with the hypothesis that it is a 

 rhizome, and, indeed, so far as they go, give unqualified support to 

 it." Well might such a statement ta-ke my breath away ! But I 

 have not yet done with it. The question still to be considered, seeing 

 that every other kind of appendage is absolutely absent from the 

 Stigmarian root except what I affirm to be rootlets, is, What are the 



