790 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 594. 



empty flowering glume. In Melica several 

 such become strangely modified. 



The palet is frequently reduced to a rudi- 

 ment, as in some species of Agrostis, or it may 

 be entirely absent, as in other species of the 

 same genus. 



The lodieules, two in most grasses, are three 

 in number in many Bambusese and altogether 

 wanting in Alopecurv^ and Anthroxanthum. 



As to the morphology of these organs, it is 

 now generally agreed that the empty glumes 

 and flowering glumes are bracts on the main 

 axis, while the palet is a bractlet on a lateral 

 branch. The lodieules have been supposed to 

 be the vestiges of a perianth. 



The empty glumes are variously named by 

 authors. Linnseus and Adanson called them 

 the calyx; Jussieu, Kunth and others the 

 glumes; Agardh the glumw exteriores; Link 

 the glumoe valvce or perigonium externum; 

 Scheuchzer the glumw steriles; Trinius the 

 glumcB calycincB; Bliunenbach the glumw 

 vacuw; Schleiden the valvce glumw; Watson 

 the lower glumes. With Beauvois they con- 

 stitute the tegmen; with Richard the lepicena; 

 with Nash the empty scales; with Panzer the 

 peristachyum; with Reichenbach the hractew. 



The two empty glumes have been commonly 

 distinguished by the adjectives lower and 

 upper, outer and inner, first and second, or 

 their Latin equivalents. Watson, however, in 

 the 1890 edition of Gray's ' Manual ' calls the 

 upper the middle glume when the spikelets are 

 but one-flowered. 



The flowering glume and the palet together 

 constitute with Linnaeus the corolla, or the 

 valvulw corolla; with Trinius the valvulw or 

 glumw corolla; with Jussieu the calyx; with 

 Reichenbach the calyx exterior; with Beauvois 

 the stragula; with Richard and with Link the 

 glumellw; with Malpighi, Schleiden, Lindley 

 and others the palew; with Agardh the glumw 

 interiores; with Scheuchzer the folliculi; with 

 Robert Brown the perianthium ; with Link the 

 perigonium internum. These likewise have 

 been distinguished by the adjectives inferior 

 and superior, exterior and interior, or their 

 equivalents. 



With the use of the word flowering glume. 



the word palea or palet has by almost universal 

 usage been confined to the organ opposite the 

 flowering glume. However, Doll quotes the 

 term spathella, said to be used by Turpin. 



The lodieules have also come in for their 

 liberal share of names. They are, with 

 Malpighi the loculi; with Adanson and most 

 later authors the lodiculw; with Linnaeus the 

 nectaria; with Jussieu the squamw; with 

 Richard glumellw in common with the flower- 

 ing glume and the palea; with Agardh the 

 glumw intimw; with Reichenbach the calyx 

 interior; with Schleiden the squamulw; with 

 Link the periphylla, paropetala or perigynium; 

 with Turpin the phycostemon; with Gray in 

 earlier writings the hypogynous scales; with 

 Desvaux the glumellulw; with Nees the peri- 

 anthium. 



It would seem that with this large mass of 

 terms and multiplied resulting combinations 

 of terms, there is little excuse for intro- 

 ducing a new one. And yet in all this flood 

 of names no one seems to have realized the con- 

 venience of having a simple and distinctive 

 name for the organ most used for systematic 

 purposes, the flowering glume. It has been 

 called a valve of the calyx or corolla as the 

 author conceived, or associated with the 

 glumes below it or the palet above it, but never 

 has it received an exclusive designation. 



This it seems to the writer is demanded not 

 only by the taxonomic importance of the or- 

 gan, but as matter of great convenience, in- 

 cidentally limiting the terms glumes strictly 

 to the empty glumes, and obviating any con- 

 fusion with the palet. In a recent publi- 

 cation I have, therefore, introduced the word 

 lemma (Greek Aia/i/x, a husk or scale) for 

 the ' flowering glume.' For the ' empty glume ' 

 the simple word glume is adopted. Palet and 

 lodicule are used as heretofore. The so-called 

 third glume of the Paniceae is a sterile lemma, 

 as perhaps are the supernumerary ' empty 

 glumes ' in Vniola and the Bambusese. 



C. V. Piper. 



Depabtment of Agbicultuee. 



note on the molecular forces in gelatine. 

 Some time since, while engaged in a re- 

 search on fluorescence it became necessary to 



