22 CIKCUMNUTATION OF SEEDLINGS. Ohat. I 



cotyl was observed during 28 h., as shown in Kg. 11. B moved 

 in all directions ; the lines from right and to left in the figure 

 being parallel to the blades of the cotyledons. The actual 

 distance travelled from side to side by the summit of the 

 hypocotyl was about '2 of an inch; but it was impossible to 

 be accurate on this head, as the more obliquely the plant was 

 viewed, after it had moved for some time, the more the distances 

 were exaggerated. 



We endeavoured to observe the circumnutation of the coty- 

 ledons, but as they close together unless kept exposed to a mode- 

 rately bright light, and as the hypocotyl is extremely heliotropic, 

 the necessary arrangements were too 

 troublesome. We shall recur to the noc- 

 turnal or sleep-movements of the cotyle- 

 dons in a future chapter. 



Gossypium (var. Nankin cotton) (Mal- 

 vacess). — The circumnutation of a hypo- 

 cotyl was observed in the hot-house, but 

 Qossupium : circumnu- the movement was so much exaggerated 

 tation of hypocotyl, ^j^ ^ ^j^g ^jg^d twice passed for a time out of 

 tiacea on a horizon- . _, , ^ -j, j. ii_ j. a. 



tal glass, from 10.30 View. It was, however, manifest that two 

 A.M. to 9.30 A.M. on somewhat irregular ellipses were nearly 

 following morning, completed in 9 h. Another seedling, 

 m^enrXed across 1^ ». in height, was then observed during 

 its summit. Move- 23 h.; but the observations were not 

 ment of bead of fila- made at sufficiently short intervals, as 

 rwTceTrit'gtu! ^1^0™ ^y ^^^ fe^ dots in Kg. 12, and the 

 minated from above, tracing was not now sufficiently enlarged. 

 Nevertheless there could be no doubt 

 about the circumnutation of the hypocotyl, which described 

 in 12 h. a figure representing three irregular ellipses of unequal 

 sizes. 



The cotyledons are in constant movement up and down during 

 the whole day, and as they offer the unusual case of moving 

 downwards late iu the evening and in the early part of the 

 night, many observations were made on them. A filament was 

 fixed along the middle of one, and its movement traced on a 

 vertical glass; but the tracing is not given, as the hypocotyl 

 was not secured, so that it was impossible to distinguish clearly 

 bL-tween its movement and that of the cotyledon. The coty- 

 ledons rose from 10.30 a.m. to about 3 p.m. ; they then sank till 

 10 P.M., rising, however, greatly in the latter part of the night 



