1900] PERENNIAL HERBS ve ie 
of which I examined about twenty-five specimens in the month 
of April, mostly between 15 and 16™ distant from the surface 
of the earth, the extreme cases being 11 and 20™. The sterile 
specimens, the bulb of whichas a rule is smaller, were encoun- 
tered always at a less depth. Of the about 200 specimens of 
this latter kind which I examined, the larger ones were found 
atan average depth of 9.5°, the extremes being 5 and 15°", 
and the smaller ones at an average depth of 7.5°", the extremes 
being 4 and 13°". I took into consideration only those individ- 
uals which were found on an even ground and apparently had 
not suffered any considerable disturbance. Hence the smaller 
plants, as a rule, are found in a more shallow position than the 
larger ones, 
In the late fall—the exact time I am unable to give—the 
roots break out from the stem portion of the bulb. They appear 
all at once, their number being in the smallest specimens from 
four to ten, in the largest from twenty to forty. They are about 
0.75™" thick, uniform throughout, become about 15° in length, 
and never branch. In the specimens I examined root hairs were 
aot present. These roots do not exhibit any contraction, Their 
direction of growth varies very much, and seems to be largely 
influenced by local factors. 
At the beginning of April the leaves emerge from the ground, 
penetrating the earth with the cartilaginous point of the erect 
‘MWardly convolute blade. The young specimens develop only 
is mt the older ones a stem with two leaves and with or with- 
Hower. With the development of the aerial organs the 
i S . the old bulb-scales and the formation of a new bulb 
me ag “s € new bulb may be formed miOne to the old one, or 
we moved from it to a more considerable distance by 
ba ale enber. Of 200 sterile individuals I examined, tA 
aif ae arunner, the rest not, and of 25 flowering individ- 
ree had formed runners. 
— is solid in its basal half, but in its terminal half it 
on ik As eoabbeel longitudinal channel, the termination of which 
€ is found usually a little below the middle of its 
