308 WALTER GARDINER. 



disorganisation. The fact^ however, appears worthy of notice, 

 that whatever light the action of reagents may throw upon the 

 constitution of chlorophyll corpuscles, yet that pronounced 

 reticulation of structure and difFuseness of outline are not 

 observable in grains which are normal and unaltered. 



My results then agree with those of Ur. Elsberg in so far as 

 the reticulate structure of clilorophyll grains is concerned, 

 but I have been unable to trace any reticulation in the proto- 

 plasm itself. Since I was unfortunately unable to obtain any 

 Nierembergia material it only remains for me to deal with 

 Ficus elastica. When transverse sections of the petiole 

 were examined in dilute glycerine I could make out the reticu- 

 lation in the chlorophyll corpuscles, but, as in the case of the 

 grass, was quite unable to see anything of the kind in the pro- 

 toplasm. Thin transverse sections, treated for half an hour 

 with a 2 per-cent. solution of silver nitrate, washed, exposed to 

 daylight, and mounted in glycerine, exhibited a structure 

 somewhat similar to the figure drawn by Dr. Elsberg, viz. that 

 on the cut surfaces of the cell walls were a number of ex- 

 ceedingly small, darkly-stained patches, separated from one 

 another by light and unstained narrow areas. The reduction 

 appeared not to have taken place uniformly all over the section, 

 being, for instance, specially pronounced just under the epi- 

 dermis. 



The most obvious questions that arose were : Are these dark 

 patches confined to the surface of the section, or are they 

 present, as one would naturally suppose, in the entire thick- 

 ness of the wall, and thus admit of being seen at any focus ? 

 Secondly, what is their nature ? Do they consist of stained 

 cellulose. 



Now, the epidermal and cortical parenchyma cells being 

 freely pitted, it is easy to focus to any determinate depth by 

 fixing upon any given pit, I examined carefully in this 

 manner several thin and well-prepared sections, but was unable 

 to see any staining whatsoever below the free surface. On 

 the contrary, my observations led me distinctly to the conclu- 

 sion that the black patches were granules resting upon the 



