58 EXPERIMENTS WITH PLANTS 



penetrate with some difficulty: in many cases they seem 

 unable to break through it, but turn aside on reaching 

 it and grow down through the fibrous mass inside. 

 Careful inspection of the "eye" where the plant has 



grown out through the thick 

 inner shell will show how thin 

 the shell is at this point and 

 how very slight is the ob- 



P^-^^^^'-'/^':^-. : ' : ^-^jl stacle'to be overcome by the 

 '""^l^;.^^^^ plant in order to break 



46. Buckeye cut open, shfwin* the thrOUgh. The 6 H O F m Oil S 



Sf'SSEj'S) ^nd^thTpocket sucker developed by the plant 

 ( P kt) into which the cauiicie fits. f Qr fo Q purpose of absorbing 



the food in the Cocoanut soon fills the whole cavity 

 and consumes not only the milk but the flesh as well. 

 This absorbing organ is soft and spongy and traversed 

 by straight fibers (plainly shown in the figure) , which 

 convey the nutriment directly to the growing plant. 

 Preparations like that shown in the photograph are 

 obtained by sawing the nut through the middle (be- 

 ginning at the larger end) to a point about two inches 

 from the "eye," and then prying the halves apart. 

 The break then occurs exactly through the "eye." 



Do you find that each kind of seed has a definite 

 spot where the first rupture of the cover occurs ? Is 

 this due to the location of the cauiicie, to the local 

 weakness of the cover (e. g., to the presence of the 

 opening) , or to some other cause 1 When the opening 



