60 THE PALM-STEM: 



With such a short distance between the lower and upper 

 leaf, the expansion of the lower intern ode must be con- 

 tinued into the part of the upper leaf which stands ver- 

 tically above the growing portion of the lower internode ; 

 since the fibres, which would form the piece of stem inserted 

 between the borders of the leaf of the lower internode, 

 must, like all other fibres of the plant, be continued in a 

 tolerably straight direction upwards in the stem ; hence 

 the cicatrix of the second leaf must become wider. The 

 second cicatrix, in the stem in question, is likewise 39 lines 

 broad, but we must add about eight lines for the expansion 

 of the lower internode ; therefore, we obtain 47 lines as 

 its breadth. If we next suppose, in accordance with 

 Meneghini, the growth in like manner of a piece i of 

 the breadth of the leaf between the borders of the leaf of 

 of the second internode, the circumference of this inter- 

 node would be increased at least nine lines, and we thus 

 obtain a circuit of 56 lines. This internode would, con- 

 sequently, exceed the lower about nine lines in circum- 

 ference. Since we do not find this in nature, and since 

 we must assume that the fibres which grow between the 

 borders of the leaf of the second internode must be con- 

 tinuous into the lower internode, we are compelled to 

 assume that the lower internode shares in the expansion 

 of the upper, and, consequently, also acquires a circum- 

 ference of 56 lines. But if, now, that which occurred 

 in the second leaf hold also exactly for the third, its 

 middle portion must expand about nine lines in breadth, 

 because a piece of stem equal to one sixth of 56 has 

 grown beneath it, in the internode of the second leaf. 

 The breadth of the second leaf amounted to 47 lines ; the 

 third would, therefore, be 56 lines broad. Then allowing 

 the borders of the leaf to separate about J of the breadth 

 of it, we obtain 67 lines for the circumference of the in- 

 ternode. In this enlargement, the lower internodes again 

 naturally take part; we have, therefore, raised the circum- 

 ference of the stem from 39 to 67 lines by these changes 

 of only three internodes, and yet we are still far below 



