COLCHICUM AL'TUMXALE. 107 



the inner leaves and the lower part of the narrow tube 

 of the corolla, with its somewhat involute lamina ; at its 

 base it forms a short tubular sheath. If this be removed 

 neatly at its point of attachment, we perceive that 

 between it and the second leaf there is an internode 

 one to two lines high and proportionally thick (Fig. 1, n). 

 On the side of this portion of the axis, which is clothed 

 with a shining cuticle, near the medial nerve of the first 

 leaf, yet not close above its line of attachment, but 

 somewhat higher, a very compressed bud, swollen below 

 but drawn out above into a bluntish point, is seated in 

 a shallow depression (o). Above this axillary bud there 

 projects slightly a small still rudimentary swollen border 

 formed by the internode, from which the bud springs 

 beneath the line of attachment of the second leaf. 

 Tbis second leaf alternates slightly with the first, the angle of 

 divergence being from 140° to 150°. On the first glance, one 

 fancies that this second leaf has as well developed a sheath as the 

 first, since the fissure formed by the lateral margins does not run 

 down to its line of attachment, the annular upper margin of tbe 

 first visible internode. Tf, however, we try to tear it off from the 

 axis at the point where the sheath seems to commence, the 

 attempt does not succeed, because the leaf below the above- 

 mentioned fissure is united with the axis. This union does not, 

 however, extend for a small distance only. If we examine tbe 

 dorsal portion of the second leaf, we find that its medial nerve 

 runs down to the swollen upper margin of the first internode ; far 

 deeper, that is, than the fissure formed by the margins of the leaf, 

 and that when it ceases, the back of the leaf is slightly distended. 

 Now if the leaf is split down the medial nerve to the point of dis- 

 tension, we find that this is caused by a little bud (Fig. 3, 8) 

 which is seated in the axil of the second leaf. Under the nerve 

 there is a small narrow canal, since at this point the inner surface 

 of the leaf is not united with the subjacent stem which is clothed 

 with a shining cuticle. This canal calls to mind a similar struc- 

 ture in Gagea pratensis, and the bud which is found at the base 

 of the canal is imprisoned in an organically closed space, but a 

 free communication is left above with the outer air. The bud is 

 constructed like that in the axil of the first leaf, and behind it the 

 axil is somewhat swollen and forms a little oval cushion (Fig. 3, 8), 

 on or in front of which the bud rests. This cushion answers to the 

 swelling of the axis between the first and second leaf. 



