341 



Art. LXXXVIII. — On the nature of Ihc BijshouI Substance found 

 investing the Roots of Monotropa Hypopitys. By Thos. G. 

 Rylands, Esq. 



Although I feel, and with much more cause, the diffidence expe- 

 rienced by Mr. Newman in expressing an opinion on a subject so dif- 

 ficult as the present one, yet, when after an investigation conducted 

 with the utmost care and deliberation, and extended over many hours, 

 I have arrived at results the most constant and apparently decided, I 

 feel that it is not only desirable, but my duty, to publish them : and 

 moreover, it seems but right, since the matter has proceeded thus far, 

 that it should not be abandoned till some decision be recorded. It is 

 on these grounds that the following remarks are j)roduced to the public. 



The opinions already expressed in 'The Phytologist,' relative to 

 the nature of the byssoid substance found on the roots of Monotropa, 

 from all stations that have supplied specimens for examination, are as 

 follows. 



Mr. Luxford refers them to a " byssoid fungus," (Phytol. 43) ; Mr. 

 Lees regards them as "suckers," (Id. 171) ; Mr. Wilson suggests that 

 they may be "the woolly matted extremities of grasses,"* (Id. 149) ; 

 and Mr. Newman believes them to be essentially the root, (Id. 297). 

 To these, in the first place, I will add a detail of my own investiga- 

 tions, and then proceed to compare the results of all. Having arrived 

 at the conclusion that the "claviform branches" of the "rhizoma" 

 were the true roots of Monotropa (Id. 329), the minute fibres now un- 

 der consideration were only examined in connexion with Mr. Lees' 

 idea that they were spongioles or suckers, and then thrown aside : but 

 on the publication of Mr. Newman's observations, to whose kindness 

 I am indebted for specimens of the plant from Shoreham in Kent, and 

 Hurstperpoint in Sussex, without which I should have been ill pre- 

 pared for my present essay, attention was again directed to them, and 

 the following is the result. 



Viewed with a magnifying power of about 30 linear, the byssoid 

 substance presents an appearance not unlike that of unsized paper seen 

 under similar circumstances. It consists of an irregularly matted mass 

 of flocculent matter, more or less depressed, investing the roots of 



* It is but just to my friend Mr. Wilson to state here that after a more careful in- 

 vestigation his opinion is, in the main, in strict accordance with the results of my own 

 observations. Nor would I omit to acknowledge how much confidence the accjssiou 

 of one whose authority is so deservedly high, has imparted to my mind. 



