442 ANDREWS AND ELLIS: REACTIONS OF HAIRS OF SALVINIA 
was placed a small piece, approximately one millimeter cube, of 
the white of a hard boiled egg. The weight of the cubes was not 
great enough to break down the leaf hairs on which they rested. 
Similar cubes of the boiled white of egg were placed on clean 
glass in the dishes just above the surface of the water, as controls. 
During the first twenty-four hours all of the white of egg, both 
control and experiment, became rather transparent. At the end 
of forty-eight hours several of the leaves were removed and ex- 
amined under a microscope. The cubes of egg had retained their 
shape perfectly, that is, there had been no rounding off of the 
edges as has been previously noted in the digestion of the white of 
egg by Drosera. A certain amount of the white of egg had been 
removed, however. Each of the leaf hairs on which the cube was 
resting had penetrated it and reached nearly through the block 
of boiled egg. The extreme tips of the prongs of each hair were 
thus firmly imbedded in the white of egg, but the remainder of the 
leaf hair scarcely touched the cube, being smaller than the chamber 
it occupied. This little chamber resembled a hole made in ice 
with a warm metal rod, being slightly larger than the leaf hair at 
every point except the tip. In addition to this reaction by the 
leaf hairs supporting the cube of white of egg, the row of hairs 
immediately around the cube which were not under it but which 
just touched it had also reacted. These hairs had bent in on all 
sides, penetrating the cube of white of egg in the same manner as 
those hairs on which the cube was resting, except that they entered 
the cube from the side; that is, there seemed to have been a 
positive chemotaxis on the part of the leaf hairs with reference 
‘to the white of egg. This.experiment was continued for several 
days, with many plants and always with the result as just stated. 
Special precaution was necessary to keep the cubes of boiled 
egg from drying out too quickly. However, the white of egg 
did not injure the leaves in any way as far as could be determined 
during the six days it rested on them. 
Experiment 3. Other cultures of Salvinia were isolated and 
small drops of uncooked white of egg placed on most of the leaves. 
Control drops of water of the same size were also placed on many 
leaves. The drops of both white of egg and water rested as tiny 
spheres on top of the leaf hairs for the first. twenty-four hours. 
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