56 



THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



Group 



Number 

 Surviving Operation 



Number of Buds 

 Formed in Group 



I 



0 

 1 

 1 

 2 



0 

 1 

 1 



II 



III 



IV 



V 



VI 



VII 



VIII 



IX 



X 



4 



4 

 5 

 5 

 4 

 4 



2 



3 



3 

 4 

 4 

 4 



2 



Upon examining the above table, it will be observed that 

 the number of buds formed in each group tends to substantiate 

 the fact that at every ten segments, (as was found to be the 

 average), the bud elements are located. Thus group I taken 

 as a whole containing 5 segments could not be expected to 

 produce any buds, group II in all 10 segments, could be expected 

 to produce 1, group VI consisting of 30 segments would most 

 probably produce 3, etc. The discrepency in group 10 may be 

 explained by the fact that immediately after sectioning, the 

 5th member of that group commenced to disintegrate, as was 

 also the case of the non-surviving member in group IX. 



It will also be noted, that the greater the number of seg- 

 ments represented, the greater the chance of survival of that 

 particular piece, but that survival does not always imply that 

 vegetative buds will be formed, as to be seen in the cases of 

 groups 5, 6, 7, 8. Some pieces of these groups are as green 

 today as at the time of sectioning, but show no vegetative ten- 

 dencies. It seems probable to the writer that under ordinary 

 conditions pieces consisting of 10 nodes represent the minimum 

 size of plant at which the activities of the parent organism are 

 duplicated, and this statement seems warranted by the fact 

 that in those pieces of less than 10 segments, an advanced state 

 of development of the buds usually resulted in the death of the 

 parent section, due probably to the withdrawal of nourishment. 



The development of buds was always immediately succeeded 

 by the formation of roots adjacent to them and later, opposite. 



