Morplwlorjy of the Pitcher of the Cephalotus follicularis. 179 



as a tendril-like structure somewhat after the fashion of 

 the cirrhose prolongation of tlie leaf-apex in Gloiiosa. The 

 pitcher he views as a glandular excavation on the internal 

 aspect of this " excurrent midrib " somewhat below its 

 extremity. 



With regard to this determination a few remarks may 

 not be out of place. 



If Hooker's representation of the early development of 

 the leaf of Nepenthes be examined, and especially his figure 

 of the first appearance of the pitcher-excavation {lac. cit., 

 Tab. Ixxiv., fig. 1 h), one cannot but be struck with its 

 exact correspondence with Baillon's description of the 

 development of the Sarracenia leaf, where the excavation 

 representing the future pitcher appears as a small fossa a 

 little to the inner side of the cone which represents the 

 young leaf, the base of which is already somewhat dilated 

 and a little concave towards the inner surface. If the 

 pitcher of Sarracenia represents a leaf-blade, it seems 

 scarcely possible to resist the conclusion that the same 

 must hold good for Nepenthes. 



An apparent difiiculty, however, arises as to the signifi- 

 cation of the flat expansion below the cirrhose support of 

 the pitcher. 



At first I was disposed to look upon all the parts below 

 the pitcher — including the flat expansion — as representing 

 the petiole ; but an examination of the remarkable leaf- 

 forms occurring in certain Crotons now inclines me to 

 adopt a view virtually identical with that of Hooker, 

 although perhaps not exactly in the shape contemplated 

 by him. 



In the plants called Croton interruptus and G. picturatiis 

 — probably both of them monstrous forms of G. angiLst if alius 

 — we have, in many of the leaves, the phenomenon of an 

 interruption, or more or less sudden narrowing in the course 

 of the lamina, which for some distance becomes reduced to 

 the slender filamentary midrib. It happens, moreover, that 

 in the greater number of the interrupted leaves the distal 

 portion of the lamina — borne upon the " excurrent midrib " 

 — is developed, peltate-fashion, into an oblique funnel of 

 varying depth.* (Plate VI. figs. 1 and 2). 



* Especially in C. picturatics. 



