STRUCTURE AND DEVELOPMENTAL RATE 



221 



than the other. No doubt this is a fact, and should it be demon- 

 strated, we still have the question: why is the rate of metabolism 

 or oxidation higher? Why does this difference in rate of oxida- 

 tion exist in some instances and not in others? What is there in 

 these apparently similar points around the germ-ring that brings 



Fig. 29 Outlines of branches from the common privet in which the terminal 

 portions had been cut away, as indicated at the upper ends of the stems. In the 

 first and usual case, A, following removal of the tip each of the upper axillary 

 buds have given rise to equal-size shoots. In B the shoot from the right axillary 

 bud is large and strong, while the shoot from the left bud is slow-growing and 

 small. In C the right shoot is normally expressed, but the left upper bud has 

 failed to grow entirely, yet if the right shoot were pinched away the left bud 

 then readily grows out. In A the advantage of position in the two upper axil- 

 lary buds was equal, but in B the right bud had an advantage in growth posi- 

 tion over the left bud, and in C this difference in growth advantage was still 

 greater. In both of the latter cases the growing shoot exerted an inhibiting 

 influence over the opposite bud. 



