in securing a suitable method, the work is not so complete as at first 
anticipated. 3 
The fruit of the Gramineew was described first by Mirbel under the 
name “cerium” and rechristened later by Richard ‘caryopsis.” 
Its contents at maturity consist largely of endosperm and embryo, — 
the tissues of the nucellus, ovule, and ovary being almost completely — 
displaced. The only remnants of the nucellus which are recognizable _ 
in the ripe grain are the empty cells which spring from the funiculus, . 
and the epidermis of the nucellus, which is continuous as a very attenu- | 
ated layer of cells around both endosperm and embryo. Of the walls 
of the ovary only the inner one persists as a double layer of cells form- 
* 
J. DU IT TASA LER, LAIT 
ing the testa or true coat of seed. Within the nucellus are one to four 
layers of cells with highly cuticularized walls. In section they are 
somewhat rectangular in form and constitute the gluten cells which 
contain the closely packed aleurone grains. 
Lying between the starch-containing portions of the endosperm and 
the embryo is a comparatively thick layer of compressed cells belong- 3 
ing to the scutellum. They are for the purpose of dissolving the starchy 
material of the endosperm during germination. The endosperm con- 
sists of thin-walled cells packed closely with starch granules, embedded 
in a fine mass of proteid material. These starch-containing cells each 
possess a nucleus which is not easily recognized. 
The embryo is situated laterally and at the base of the seed. Itis 
diiferentiated into the scutellum, the plumule, the radicle, and fre- 
quently the epiblast. The plumule is surrounded by the plumule-sheath, 
which sometimes has a slit-shaped opening on the side opposite to that 
of the scutellum. The plumule sheath is composed of a vegetation 
point and several layers of leaves. The radicle is inclosed in the lower 
part of the embryo, and at germination, before making its exit, must 
break through a protective mass of tissue, the coleorhiza, so called 
because it forms a kind of sheath around the radicle. Secondary radi 
cles frequently occur in the mature and resting embryo. They arise in = 
the axis usually just below the plumule. 
The vascular system may be traced down into the primary radicle, 
and also into the scutellum, plumule-sheath, and plumule. 
THE SCUTELLUM. 
The name “scutellum” has been given to the cotyledon of the grasses — 
because of its resemblance to a little shield. It has for its object the E. 
protection of the plumule and the absorption of nutrient materials from 
the endosperm. 
P7.•12᷑: : . —ů!J ai ... MEL LL 
The author wishes to express his thanks to Prof. W. W. Rowlee for many helpful 
suggestions during the progress of the work; also to Profs. F. Lamson-Scribner and ; a 
W. J. Beal for much valuable material, and to Prof. F. C. Harrison, of the Ontario — 
Agricultural College, at Guelph, Canada, and to Messrs H. R. Carveth and O. Shanta — 15 
for aid in the discovery of a method. 
