ON THE GERMINATION 



piercing the sheath, with a second bulb shoot- 

 ing from the Tuber like the first. Fig. 3. four 

 plants of the second month, with their respective 

 sheaths,- now withered, shot from the same part, 

 the Testa and inner coat of the seed remaining at- 

 tached to them. 



THE COTYLEDON. 



M. Malpighi, above a century ago, described 

 this organ * ; and M. Caertner has accurately fi - 

 gured it in the seeds of various genera, and .pro- 

 poses it as characteristic of the Gramineae f ; but 

 he is evidently undecided as to its nature, describ- 

 ing it at first as the Vitellus of the seed} and after- 

 wards naming it Scutellum Cotyledoneum. Both 

 M. Jussieu % and Mr Brown J, whose opinions are 

 always entitled to great respect, account it the Co- 

 tyledon of the seed. I have removed, repeatedly, 

 the border of the Cotyledon, and the first seminal 

 bulb only continued to grow to the height of five 

 inches in this state, but seemed somewhat sickly, al- 

 though not finally killed by the operation, The use 

 of this organ is evidently to protect the Tuber and 

 embryo bulbs, and to absorb, and probably to assi- 

 milate, the nutritious matter of the perisperm for 



* Anatom. Plantar, torn. ii. p. 50. 



\ De Fructibus et Seminibus Plant arum, Prasf. 



I Genera Plant. Ord. 2, 84. Paris, 1789 ; and Prodromus 

 Fierce Nov. Holland, et Insula Van Diemen, vol. i, p. 168. 

 Lond. 18 10, — two works in which the candour and great 

 learning of their respective authors are equally conspi- 

 cuous. 



1 



