RESERVE CELLULOSE. H 



true of the seeds of Colchicum, Scilla, and Tulipa. These react, too, in the same 

 way toward iodine as before boiling. Iris 2^>^<^udacorus showed the walls of the 

 endosperm very much swollen after eight hours' boiling. 



In sections of Paris seeds which were not quite ripe, the endosperm cells had 

 tlieir thickened corners much swollen after eight hours' boiling. 



PI. 2, fig. 6, is a sketch of a few cells from tlic endosperm of Polygonatum, after 

 eight hours' boiling; the contents of the cells have been boiled away, but the reserve is 

 unaffected on the walls. The section was tangential to the seed, and the canals 

 between the contiguous cells do not, on that account, always correspond; at a the 

 surface of the cell wall sliows, with the ends of the canals appearing as pits. 



PL 2, fig. 7, represents the appearance of the cell walls of the endosperm of Ii-is 

 pseudacorus after eight hours' boiling ; a distorted wall, h contents of the cell. 

 This should be compared with PI. 1, fig. 2, which shows the cells of Iris 2)seudacorus 

 treated with iodine. 



PI. 1, fig. 9, shows the swelling of the reserve material in the endosperm walls of 

 Paris quadrifoUa, when allowed to lie in water some time. The seed was not quite 

 ripe. 



PI. 1, fig. 8, is a sketch from the seed t)f Paris quadrifoUa treated with absolute 

 alcohol. 



Action with Staining Fluids. Haematoxylin stains the reserve cellulose of Poly- 

 gonatum seeds but slightly; the primary membrane, however, shows a beautiful deep 

 violet color, which perfectly outlines the original cell walls. 



This is the case with seeds of Ornithogalum, Iris, Asparagus, etc. Tulipa takes 

 the stain most vividly on the inner surface of the cells, for the reserve cellulose 

 seems to be laid down as intercellular substance, as its method of solution under the 

 action of sulphuric acid has already suggested (see PI. 2, fig. 3). 



Methyl violet also brings out distinctly'- the original wall of the cell as a well- 

 defined line in the midst of the faintlv stained reserve material. 



Congo-red, if applied to the sections for only a short time, from fifteen minutes to half 

 an hour, is easily washed out with water, excejit from the primary membrane. If the 

 sections are left in congo-red from twenty-four to forty-eight hours and then care- 

 fully washed, the reserve material is deeply stained. This color will hold perfectly for 

 three months in seventy per cent alcohol. 



Summary. As a result of the foregoing investigations the following statements 

 may be made with regard to the characteristics of reserve cellulose as seen in the 

 Liliaceae. 



