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52 ANATOMICAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE COTYLEDON OF GRAMINE. 
course. But it is easy to determine that the scutellum possesses a 
vascular system which after it has once entered is distributed without 
afterwards making any return to the stem or root.” 
Struck by these objections, the author determined to seek a new 
basis for the solution of the problem by the investigation of the vas- 
cular system in germinating plantlets, and details the results of his 
dissections of those of Stipa pennata, Wheat, Barley, Zolium italicum, 
Zea Mays, Sorghum vulgare, Coix Lacryma, &e. The following are his 
conclusions :— os ; 
‘The cotyledon of Grasses presents in all the plants of the 
family the same fundamental characteristics and the same essential 
relationship to the stem. It is always formed of—1. A hypogeal 
i more or less sheathing and one-nerved (scutellum, hypoblast), 
the opposite side of the sheath of which often forms a litt] 
a 
white epigeal sheath, which protects the plumule (pileola). This 
bears in certain cases, like the subsequent 
leaves, an axillary bud, more or less displaced, situated in the axil of 
its bistipular sheath, or even two collateral buds. 
‘‘ With regard to its mode of insertion, the cotyledon of Grasses 
presents three anatomical modifications. 
cotyledonary node is élongatéd by an interposed growth. Of this 
