LECT. IV.] THE ROOT. BULBS. 171 



The physiology of this species of solid bulb 

 closely resembles that of the other. The new 

 bulbs are produced by the plant of the bulb to 

 which they are attached, and which is exhausted 

 in the support of the foliage and fructification they 

 bear : and in partly supplying also the nutriment 

 which is deposited in them : I say partly, because 

 it must be kept in mind, that the recent bulbs, of 

 both species, have a direct communication with the 

 soil through their roots ; and consequently it is 

 probable that by far the greater part of the matter 

 deposited in them, proceeds from the nutriment 

 obtained from the soil, changed into the proper 

 juice of the plant by the functions of the leaves. 



3. The Enclosing solid bulb (Bulbus solidus 

 includens), I have named from the circumstance 

 of the young bulbs being enclosed between their 



d. The old bulb shrivelled up ; e. the remains of its radical 

 plate ;f. the remains of its terminal process. 



Fig. 9. the back view of fig. 8. a. b. the recent bulbs ; c. c. 

 the flattened processes seen from behind ; d. the old bulb ; 



e. the remains of its radical plate. 



Fig. 10. a longitudinal slice of the bulbs, a. The old shri- 

 velled bulb ; b. c. the recent bulbs, in which is seen the dis- 

 similar structure of their mass ; d. the opaque portion ; e. the 

 semitransparent : the longitudinal lines in d. show the course of 

 the vessels, proceeding from the point of attachment behind the 

 process of the old bulb ; at^ and on the opposite side, from 

 that above its radical plate at g. h. h. the part of the bulbs on 

 which the foliage is seated. 



