886 
Their color, according to Figdor, is 
brown-red in the central part of the necta- 
rial surface, developing into red on the 
edges. Darwin’s statement is that they 
are ‘smooth green.’ In our east North 
American plants, the color in the young 
state is much as described by Figdor. 
Later the red color is lost, and the organs 
are then deep green. Darwin’s and Figdor’s 
statements may, therefore, be harmonized 
as they appear to apply to different stages 
of growth, if indeed the European plants 
do not differ among themselves and from 
the American. Figdor further notes that 
the membranes of the nectaries early be- 
come brown and that, later, they thicken 
considerably. The use of the red color is 
quite problematical. 
The secretion of nectar is very abundant 
during the unfolding of the frond. So 
abundant is it, in fact, that large beads of 
the limpid fluid may be seen from a dis- 
tance, resting on the nectaries or running 
down the petiole. With a hand lens, one 
may easily note the accumulation of nectar 
after the surface has been wiped off. Dar- 
win found that a drop of the liquid was 
formed in six minutes. Handling and tast- 
ing the secretion shows it to be sirupy and 
very sweet. According to Bonnier (l. c.) 
the sugars saccharose and glucose are 
present. Here, as in analogous organs in 
other plants, the exudation is quite inde- 
pendent of bleeding pressure. Leaves 
which have been broken off continue to 
produce nectar for some days, provided, 
of course, that they be kept in fair condi- 
tion. As the frond ages, the activity of 
the glands is lowered, until they finally 
cease to secrete and become functionless as 
nectaries. 
ANATOMY. 
The epidermis consists of polygonal cells, 
with a depth that is greater by about one- 
third than that of the rest of the epidermal 
SCIENCE. 
[N.S. Vou. XIII. No. 336. 
cells of the petiole; in transverse section 
they are nearly square (Fig. 5). These 
cells have red coloring matter in their sap, 
although the color is not confined merely to 
the glandular areas, but is usually extended 
from them in bands of various breadths up 
and down the petiole. The loss of this 
color as the age of the leaf increases has 
been notéd above. 
Scattered here and there on the surface 
are a number—a dozen or more—of sto- 
mata. These are irregular in position, in 
surface view very much rounded (Fig. la), 
resembling in this respect very closely the 
water pores of the garden nasturtium (TZvo- 
paeolum sp.). 
\/ = 
/ 
Fic. la, Stoma from nectary. 
Fic. 1b. Stoma in which the guard cells have been 
spread apart by growth of the surrounding tissues. 
They do not, however, lack so entirely 
the characters found in air stomata, as is 
shown in the figure. The delicate hinge 
mechanism is not present, and the thicken- 
ing of the walls is even all around, in which | 
the stomata agree in essential detail with 
water stomata, such as are found in Secale 
cereale, Conocephalus ovatus.and other plants. 
In some cases the stretching of the epi- 
dermis incident to growth causes a dis- 
placement of the guard-cells (Fig. 1b), and 
a consequent enlargement of the pore. The 
guard-cells are raised above the general 
surface (Fig. 2), in which particular the 
writer’s observations fail to coincide with 
those of Figdor, whose illustration in other 
regards also does not show the guard-cells 
to possess any characters usually found in 
such. Figdor states that a ‘test with a 
sugar solution indicated that some of the 
