LIFE-HISTORY AND PHYSIOLOGY. i 7 



portion of the seeds, however, fail to vegetate the first season, and remain in the 

 ground dormant for another year. 



Some experiments I made on this point, between the years 1878 and 1884, 

 gave the following results. — Of forty seeds of each of the undermentioned species, 

 ripened in June, 1878, and sown in August, 1879, 



and a few more of some of the species vegetated in the third year, 1882; so that 

 barely half as many vegetated the first year as those that remained another year 

 dormant and then vegetated. The seeds in this experiment were a year old when 

 sown; fresh seeds would probably have vegetated in larger proportions. 



Fig. 1. Plate C, represents a section of the dormant seed of C. aureus, magnified 

 sixfold; a, the carunculate extremity; b, the base, or chalazal extremity; c, the 

 albumen, or endosperm; d, the embryo. 



Fig. 2, the first stage of germination; 6*, the base of the cotyledon protruding 

 from the base of the seed; c, the endosperm; d, the enlarged apex of the cotyledon 

 absorbing the endosperm. 



Figs. 3 and 4, magnified three-fold, represent a further stage in germination; 

 c, the endosperm ; d, the enlarged apex of the cotyledon ; e, the base of cotyledon ; 

 further produced than in fig. 2, with the primary root, f, protruding. Fig. 5, a 

 further stage; g, the cotyledon; //, the base of the cotyledon including the plumule. 



Fig. 6, a further stage; g, the cotyledon; k, base of the cotyledon; /, the sheath 

 of the first leaf, which is protruding at i; I, the primary root. 



Figs. 7, 8, 9, and 10, further stages; g, the cotyledon; /, the first leaf of the 

 plumule; /, the sheath of the first leaf; /', base of the cotyledon; /, primary root; 

 m, an enlarged ephemeral root, reabsorbed on the maturity of the corm; this 

 occasionally appears in the reproduction of the matured corm (See Plate A, fig. 6), 

 it is thrown out at the base of the growing new corm before its maturity, and 

 reabsorbed; in corm-reproduction it is only occasional, and seems to be an inherited 

 recurrence of a constant feature of the later stages of germination. ;/, the young 

 corm. 



Fig. 11, 11, the perfected young corm of the first season, magnified three-fold, 

 bearing a single leaf. The young corm during the two succeeding years is 

 annually replaced by an enlarged corm, after the manner of the annual replacement 



D 



