STORAGE OF FOOD MATERIALS 37 
with different species? How do the aerial parts connect 
with the storage region—that is, do the leaves connect direct- 
ly or by means of a stem? 
What is the character of the soil? Of the covering of 
the soil? Do you consider this a wet or a dry soil? Will 
it be so most of the year? Are these plants found in equal 
abundance in both wet and dry places? What special signifi- 
cance in this? 
Are these plants found in equal abundance on hill slopes 
and bottom-lands? On hill slopes are they equally abundant 
on north and south slopes? 
Account for any differences in representation in bottom- 
lands and hillsides, and hillsides of different directions of 
exposure. Account for any differences in the time of ap- 
pearance in spring of these plants growing in the different 
regions mentioned. 
Locate some plants that have assumed the adult form, 
and compare the storage region with that of plants just be- 
ginning to grow. Account for changes. In case favorable 
specimens are not located in the field this last point is well 
illustrated by sectioning, staining with iodine, and examin- 
ing a potato from which a plant has grown. 
General questions—What advantages have the early 
spring flowering plants in possessing an abundance of stored 
food? For example, will they be likely to mature from 
seed without excessive shading from other plants? Would 
this, if true, give the new plants formed from seed any 
advantage? To what dangers are the stored foods of these 
spring flowering plants exposed? Has the location of the 
plants and depth in the soil any relation to this? Does the 
soil-cover, as leaves, etc., bear any relation to this? Are 
these dangers common to all food-storage structures? 
