76 BOTANICAL GAZETTE | AUGUST 
is the popular belief, with which my observations agree. It 
suggests the query, is an abundant supply of water needed for 
elongation of the receptaculum? The following experiment 
bears on this point: 
Experiment 2.—QOn October 22, an egg collected October 9 
was divided longitudinally into halves. One of these halves 
was placed in a dish of water; the other was placed under a 
bell jar in a moist atmosphere and was supported on slings in a 
piece of apparatus devised to avoid the resistance to elongation 
which would have resulted had this half been allowed to rest on 
the plane surface of a solid. 
The supporting apparatus consisted of a horizontal base—a 
block of wood—-into which a heavy wire was inserted from 
above. This wire extended upward for a distance of 10 to 15™ 
and then bent outward and downward, forming a vertical pillar 
with a supporting arm. To the free end of the arm was then 
firmly attached the middle of a horizontal rod, the rod being 
thus held at a suitable distance above the base of the apparatus 
and in such a position that its ends were equally distant from 
any point in the supporting column. 
The portion of the receptaculum used in the experiment was 
suspended in a horizontal position below the horizontal bar by 
two slings, or loops, made of twine. The receptaculum was 
supported by slipping its opposite ends through their respective 
slings, which were movable on the horizontal bar. In all the 
experiments in which this apparatus was used, the slings were 
adjusted on the bar at short intervals of time so that appreci- 
able resistance should not be offered to the elongation, and also 
so that the weight of the receptaculum might not exert a pull 
favoring elongation. 
The results of the experiment were as follows: 
Time Length in water Length in air 
10:15 A.M. - - : : 0 
11:40 A.M. - - = i 53 48 
1:50 P.M. - - fe - 120 57 
4:45 P.M - $22 g2 
11:30 A.M. of next day - <7). 229 100 
