392 GAISER: CRYSTALS IN THE SPADIX OF ANTHURIUM 
In Fic. 3 the crystal clearly lies in a normally spherical-appearing 
vacuole. As drawn, the tonoplast on the upper side overlaps 
the crystal, but that is the result of its being drawn at a higher 
plane. The primordial utricle next to the wall is quite distinct. 
By a slight shrinkage the plasma membrane has been sufficiently 
drawn away from the wall to become sharply distinguishable. 
The nucleus, which approximates the size of that in the normal 
cell next to it, lies imbedded in the cytoplasm, while the crystal 
appears as an inclusion in the vacuole. By the number of walls 
adjoining those of the cell (Fic. 1) it might appear that that cell 
was very much hypertrophied. However, it is merely so by 
contrast to the smaller epidermal cells by which it is bounded 
along two sides. 
Cells containing larger crystal aggregates show a thin pri- 
mordial utricle, as is usual in older cells, when a large vacuole 
occupies the centre of the cell. Fic. 4 shows two cells from the 
pith of the spadix. The one to the right is a normal parenchy- 
matous cell, somewhat elongated, and lacking any stainable 
vacuolar content. The nucleus is appressed to the cell wall, 
lying in a primordial utricle that also contains scattered chloro- 
plasts. The adjoining cell appears more isodiametric because 
of the large almost radially symmetric crystal aggregate, looking 
like a sunburst, that occupies its central region. There is little 
difference in the remaining contents of the two cells, cytoplasm, 
chloroplasts, and nuclei, are equally large and of normal appear- 
ance. Adjacent to the intercellular spaces the walls of the two 
cells are seen to be of the same thickness unlike those described 
by Lloyd in Ginkgo. He describes the large druse as surrounded 
by a thin cell wall which has never acquired the thickness of 
those of the living neighboring cells. It will be noticed that the 
intercellular spaces (Fic. 4) are smaller to the right of the normal 
cell than to the left of the crystal-containing cell due to the 
fact, however, that the former approaches a vascular bundle 
region where the cells are more closely crowded. 
FIG. 5 represents a still larger crystal also from the pith 
region when the primordial utricle has become very scant, 
almost unnoticeable except as a plasma membrane, which how- 
ever shows quite clearly in some places. The individual crystals 
extend almost to the cell wall into this thin layer and in some 
cases the colloidal mass extends inwards sheathing the crystal 
tips for a short distance. 
