18 



but quickly are lost from sight by the development of the much 

 larger alternate true leaves. After holding on for a few days as 

 a rule, the cotyledons lose their green color and drop from the 

 stem. In the de-plumuled seedlings the petioles at once begin to 

 elongate as was shown to be true with the radish, while the 

 remarkable green develops in the blades that likewise become 

 double, or more, the normal size and are the organs of photo- 

 synthesis for the mutilated plant. Their dark green is shared by 

 the long, arched petioles (quite different in this respect from those 

 of the radish) and the hypocotyl. The latter becomes of twice 

 the sectional area of that of the normal plants, which are now 

 several feet high and bearing flowers, and becomes a storehouse 

 for the starch that is robbed of its proper use by the absence of 

 any stem. The root system of the de-plumuled plant is not 

 different from that of the normal specimens. 



A third type of plant put to the test was the Hubbard squash, the 

 seedlings of which naturally have large cotyledons. In these the 

 seed-leaves remain near the soil without any apparent elongation 

 of the hypocotyl, but there is a remarkable increase in the size of 

 the cotyledons until they are sometimes four or more inches in 

 length and very odd, to say the least. Normally, the true leaves 

 come forth from the plumule rapidly and owing to their large 

 size the cotyledons are soon out of sight and quickly wither 

 away. Dwarfed squash plants depending entirely upon the coty- 

 ledons have been kept in apparently healthy condition for four 

 months, the size remaining practically the same after the first four 

 weeks. These plants, unlike those previously mentioned, need 

 frequent attention, for buds will develop in the axils of the seed 

 leaves, which when removed will be followed by others without 

 any determined number. If left undisturbed a whole thick cluster 

 of stems and small leaves will develop. 



The egg-plant, as representing a slow-growing type of bushy 

 plant, was employed for the test in question and it was found that 

 this behaved in a manner similar to the radish, in that the peti- 

 oles of the cotyledons became rigid and nearly upright, and bore 

 the thick, almost fleshy, much enlarged oblanceolate blades well 

 up in the air and sunshine. In this form the de-plumuled plants 



