80 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [ AUGUST 
bodies which are not in the angles of the folds have a more 
spherical form in general. Ina fully elongated stipe the cell- 
like bodies of pseudoparenchyma are more spherical or ovoid 
throughout in general, although somewhat irregular. 
These facts may indicate, as Ed. Fischer claims,’ that the 
straightening of the folds is due to the simple absorption of 
liquid by the pseudoparenchyma. His theory of elongation of 
the receptaculum accounts for the increased rapidity of elonga- 
tion when the receptaculum is immersed in water, as in some of 
my experiments. It is also favored by the rapid elongation in 
suitable liquids of slight density, as Fischer has observed. It is 
not rendered improbable by the occurrence of elongation in an 
atmosphere containing but little moisture, even though no water 
supply is being brought up into the plant by the mycelium ; for 
the pseudoparenchymatous walls are found to be constantly moist 
during elongation, such moisture coming from adjacent gelatin- 
ous tissues presumably. 
I believe that we may conclude that the straightening out of 
the folds in elongation is due, in some degree at least, to the 
change in form—becoming more nearly spherical—of the 
pseudoparenchyma at the inner angle and the periphery of the 
folds. But is this change of form due merely to increased tur- 
gidity of the pseudoparenchyma by simple absorption of water? 
May there not be a process of growth going on, as a result of 
which the change of form occurs ? 
In his researches on glycogen in Basidiomycetes, Errera® 
gave especial attention to its occurrence in /thyphallus impudicus, 
and found that in the various stages of that plant the glycogen 
was most abundant in those parts in which active growth was 
about to take place. He regards glycogen as a food substance 
accumulated for use in future growth, and finds that it disap- 
pears in the degree that such growth progresses. He found 
glycogen very abundant in the walls and chambers of the stipe 
just before elongation began, but it gradually disappeared during 
elongation, and was wholly lacking except at the base of the 
7 Loe. cit. 8 Loc. cit. 
