166 |^ ON THE NARDOO PLANT OF AUSTRALIA. 
The fruit had lain in water for a week without change. It was then 
slightly seraped at the suture, like the former one. After a- quarter of 
an hour the valves separated on this side, and the fore half of the gela- 
tinous string emerged (fig. 6). The apices of the sori (which were at- 
tached to the string) immediately began to protrude themselves together 
with the latter and became more and more visible. After the fore half 
of the ring had entirely emerged, the water obtained easier aecess to 
the hinder part of the fruit, and the more robust half of the ring which 
is here embedded now began to break out with great rapidity on both 
sides (fig. 6). In the meantime, the sori were unable any longer to 
keep up with the expansion of the growing ring, and broke away one 
after another from the fore part of the ring, to which they are only 
slightly attached, but which retains traces of their places of attachment — 
in the form of a corresponding number of small prominences (fig. 7 7). 
The sori were ruptured by being thus torn away. After about an 
hour, the receptacle had emerged entire in the form of a closed ring 
as it lies in the sporocarp, and had attained about the size and shape 
shown in figure 7, which represents a ring in a similar condition, pro- 
duced by a third fruit. One of these rings remained three days in 
water without injury, and therefore the shape assumed must be con- 
sidered to be the normal one. e ring is more frequently ruptured 
than entire, a fact which is explained by the easy separation of the parts 
at the points marked 7 in figure 7, and by the fact that this part, which 
is by far the weakest, is casily broken by the forcible opening of the 
valves at the fore margin. A portion of the ring might also be de- 
stroyed when the water by the decay of the valves first obtains access 
to the interior; whilst an artificial rupture of the sporocarp, resulting in 
an uninjured development of the ring, exhibits the phenomenon in the 
perfect condition above mentioned. 
The hinder part of the ring is the most massive in the dry state, and 
expands more when moist than the fore part, as will be seen by fig. 7. 
Dr. Hanstein considers that the volume of the moist and swollen 
receptacle is not less than two hundred times that of the same organ in 
the dry state, and he discusses the nature of the mechanism (viz. the 
effect of moisture upon the cells) by which this extraordinary increase 
of size is produced. To discuss the nature of this mechanism would 
occupy more space than I have at command; I must therefore refer 
those who wish for further details to Dr. Hanstein’s paper. 
