3io 



ECOLOG Y. 



hours. The pumpkin seed is the one we have selected for this study. It 

 will be instructive first to examine those which have been germinated in the 



Fig. 404. 



Germinating seed of pumpkin, showing how the heel or " peg " catches on the seed coat 

 to cast it off. 



folds of moist cloth and paper, so that they can readily be observed at all 

 stages, without digging them up from the soil . 



587. The root pushes its 

 way out from between the 

 stout seed' coats at the 

 smaller etld, and then turns 

 downward unless prevented 

 from so doing by a hard 

 surface. After the root is 

 2—^cm long, and the two 

 halves of the seed coats 

 have begun to be pried 

 apart, if we look in this rift 

 the junction of the root 

 and stem, 

 we will 

 see that 

 one end 

 of the seed coat is caught 

 against a heel, or "peg," 

 which has grown out from 

 the stem for this purpose. 

 Now if we examine one 

 which is a little more ad- 

 vanced, we will see this 

 heel more distinctly, and 

 also that the stem (hypo- 

 cotyl) is arching out away 

 from the seed coats. As 



Fig. 405. 

 Escape of the pumpkin seedling from the seed coats. 



