344 CHURCH: THE BULB IN COOPERIA DRUMMONDII 
incipient leaf or so—could be sighted through the ‘‘fente.”’ As 
Jussieu (19) states: ‘‘. .-. et ce ne fut qu’apres des recherches 
répétées et minutieuses que je parvins 4 m’assurer que le cotyledon 
présentait en effect une petite fente vers sa base.’”’ They specu- 
lated as to whether or not this gemmule were naturally_detachable 
from the rest of the structure. Brown (3) speculates in his work 
and merely shoulders enough responsibility to say that the 
gemmule in bulbiform amaryllids can be seen and that it escapes 
through this opening, “petite fente.”’ 
A careful microscopic examination of slides of a five-day-old 
Cooperia Drummondii seedling reveals cell structure indicating 
that root contraction has already begun. Such a condition has 
been noted by Hallstrém-Helsinke (9) in Urginea maritima, by 
Rimbach (23-28) and by De Vries (34) among the dicotyledons 
and also in Hyacinthus orientalis. Rimbach appears to be the 
best-known investigator volunteering a hypothesis of the relation 
of this contraction to root tissues. It is the intention of the 
writer to discuss his deductions and those of others later. 
THE SEEDLING 
A five-day-old plant of Cooperia Drummondii (Fic. 1) shows 
no outward indication of bulb formation. However, the region h 
does limit the territory of the root and of the shoot. The primary 
root is a tap root, in appearance stout, tapering slightly downward, 
and colorless. The shoot consists of the first leaf blade or lamina, 
1,; the cotyledon, c (from which in the preparation drawn portions 
of the seed coats and of the endosperm tissue, e, had been removed) ; 
and the cotyledonary sheath. Acentral longitudinal section of this 
individual (Fic. 2), under the low power of the microscope, shows 
in addition the sheath, 0, of the first leaf and the primordia of the 
second leaf, J, and 62, together with the vegetative point, pm. The 
stippled strips represent approximately the space occupied by the 
vascular traces, no branch of which goes to the cotyledonary 
sheath, cs. Fic. 3 takes to one side the youngest area and repre- 
sents exactly its cellular structure. In this region, surrounded 
by the first leaf of the young plant, the cells are actively dividing. 
The cells at 2, and 2 indicate not only that the second leaf has 
already become differentiated from the primordial meristem, pm, 
