334 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. [Proc. 3D Ser. 



leaves of the main axis. Further, this hypothesis excludes 

 the idea of a perianth in the grasses, and with this a very 

 important clue to the connections between the grasses and 

 other low Monocot}dedons is overlooked. The second 

 interpretation recognizes a perianth which is represented by 

 the lodiculae. The two anterior members are present in 

 most grasses, and the trimerous perianth is completed by a 

 posterior member in the bamboos and certain other grasses. 

 Neither of the Ivypotheses set up to explain the significance 

 of the lodiculae is entirely satisfactory — the first explanation 

 for the reasons given, and the second, mainly because of 

 the position of the lodiculae in most grasses. The relation 

 of the lodiculae to the upper palet in Avena (and in some 

 other grasses as well) in which there is a common origin 

 for both, makes it difficult to look upon the lodiculae as 

 members of a perianth, for this, if present, ought to originate 

 and therefore be placed on a higher plane than the upper 

 palet. This intimate connection of the lodiculae and upper 

 palet is met also in Oryza, Zea, and Solenache (Eichler). 

 The lodiculae vary greatly in number in the different 

 grasses and assume various positions, as in the Paniceae 

 they are mainly outside the upper palet, and in the Ehr- 

 harla-species similar bracts are associated with the lower 

 glume. From this it seems reasonable to conclude that not 

 all of the lodiculae can represent rudimentary perianths. 

 In addition to this variation in position of the lodiculae there 

 are present in the rye (Eichler) and certain other grasses 

 four anterior lodiculae placed on two planes; the two lower 

 are connected with the upper palet (" stipular lodiculae ") 

 and the two upper, originating evidently on a higher plane, 

 are regarded as being two members of a perianth ("peri- 

 anthal lodiculae "). A comparison of the lodiculae of Avena 

 with those of the rye shows them to be homologous to the 

 stipular lodiculae of the rye, but in Avena the perianthal 

 lodiculae are wanting. In the bamboo a trimerous perianth 

 of three lodiculae is present, and in addition to this, two 

 stipular lodiculae also. The upper lodiculae of the bamboo, 

 by reason of their position and number, have been rightly 



