and Functions, of Bulls in gencraL 455 



the parent bulb ; and, having a free base, they immediately, with- 

 out passing through the large bulb, send down capillary roots, 

 which thus, probably, perform the office of the fusiform roots 

 produced by the crocus. When this bulb is cut, the germ is 

 found of the same form as that of the saffron, except that the 

 point penetrates the old bulb laterally, and disappears in it, with- 

 out producing any circumferential roots. As all the coats of the 

 colchicum entirely surround the bulb, when the latter begins to 

 decay, it is not found partly naked, like that of the crocus, which 

 has its coats one above another like scales, that are pushed 

 up higher by degrees as tlie bulb increases in size ; but appears 

 a mass of dry coats, which contain the old bulb, reduced to 

 a small withered substance, which soon afterwards becomes, 

 rotten. 



The Fumaria bulbosa y solida Lin. (Corydalis bulbosa Dec.) 

 has also some analogy with the crocus and other plants, in the 

 mode of reproducing its bulbs, or tubers, whichever they may be 

 called. In its dormant state, it presents a white starchy mass, 

 which contains an olive- shaped substance, situated vertically in 

 its centre, with its broadest end downwards, which is of a yellow- 

 ish colour, and of a slightly fibrous structure. When the bulb 

 begins to grow, the I'oots proceed from the lower part of the 

 olive-shaped substance; and, at the same time, one or more shoots 

 rise from the upper part, which continue to grow and produce 

 flowers. When the old bulb, or tuber, has done growing, the 

 off*sets begin to be developed ; and, as it has been observed that 

 they are always in the centre of the parent bulb, and as that is 

 exactly the spot occupied by the olive-shaped substance, it may 

 be inferred that the offsets have their origin in it. As the 

 offsets increase in size, the substance of the parent bulb di- 

 minishes, till, by degrees, it changes into a spongy involucre; 

 which, by being continually pressed by the new bulbs, is soon re- 

 duced to a membrane, and then disappears. As soon as the new 

 bulbs are completely formed, the roots and the stems of the old 

 bulb fall off"; and the new bulbs remain in a dormant state till 

 the next season of vegetation. 



Having anatomically examined some of the solid bulbs in va- 

 rious stages of their vegetation, let us now consider the use which 

 nature intends these bulbs to answer. 



Linnaeus considered bulbs as hybernacula; that is, as winter 

 storehouses, or bodies intended to preserve the germ of the fu- 

 ture plant, while vegetation is at rest ; and to administer with 

 their own substance its first nourishment, as the seed does to the 

 embryo with the albuminous matter which it contains in its 

 cotyledons. 



Nobody can doubt that bulbs were intended both to preserve 

 and to nourish the germ : but, if they were formed for these pur- 



