36 Erwin Hinckley Barbouy^ 



which is a portion of a " rhizome " near the base of the 

 spiral. 



THE TUBULES AND TUBES OF DAEMONELIX. 



The tubules and tubes of Daemonelix have been mentioned 

 repeatedly. They deserve especial consideration, and the next 

 work to be done in the study of Daemonelix itself is the criti- 

 cal examination of these. 



To the eye they are perfectly distinct as white, hollow 

 tubules, scarcely a millimeter in diameter, branching and tan- 

 gled together like a bunch of tow. They constitute the visi- 

 ble part of all forms of the Daemonelix group. Each fila- 

 mentary tubule is looked upon as the plant proper, while their 

 aggregation into a particular form constitutes the several 

 varieties described herein. 



We have seen them in the sand rock as solitary tubules, 

 again as sheets, and in other places still as enormous bunches 

 or masses; again in the forms which have already been consid- 

 ered. In each case this simple tubule seems to be the ele- 

 mental and fundamental part. 



But in addition to these there are tubes of "all intermediate 

 sizes up to twenty millimeters in diameter. These have caused 

 the author increasing perplexity. In every specimen of the 

 Devil's Corkscrew, from the first, they have been observed and 

 reported as occurring in the interior of the great trunk, or 

 rhizome, and as extending thence into the spiral. Unfortu- 

 nately the tubes were replaced by variously colored gelatinous 

 silicic acid and the structure lost. In badly preserved speci- 

 mens even the space occupied by the tubes was lost, and great 

 masses of this soft wax-like silica filled parts of trunk and 

 spiral. In cases of fair preservation the structure of the 

 great tubes is lost, but their identity as tubes preserved by a 

 filling of silica. In finely preserved specimens, such as occur 

 at a spot near Squaw Canyon, all the greater and lesser tubes 



116 



