Osborne, on the Wheat Plant. 
107 
glass, presents a very interesting object. At its apex there is 
wliat I must call a free capsule of cells (figs. 4 and 5), somewhat 
lozenge or diamond shaped at the extremity, but becoming 
longer and more narrow towards the base. These, as the rule, 
have well-formed nuclei within them ; they have this pecu- 
liarity, — that they appear sometimes regularly disposed, so as 
to form, cell with cell, a perfect cone ; at other times they are 
separated into groups ; again, it will often happen that many 
of the cells will appear to be isolated. They take this varying 
position from their being formed in, and held together by, a 
highly elastic and very transparent membrane. 
This free capsule envelopes the inner apex of the growing 
root ; but there is, as a rule, a clear ccU-less space between its 
base and the part of that apex which it there covers. Yery 
frequently the cells at the base of the capsule will be seen to 
project from the side of the root at an acute angle (fig. 5.) 
Beneath this cellulated cone or capsule, the growth of the 
root, throughout its whole progress, proceeds as I have already 
described it ; the only difference from its very early stage 
being, that the scalariform fibre in the vascular bundle 
assumes a more defined form, and the whole structure larger 
proportions. The capsule, however, is never missing, nor 
have I ever found it to vary in its structure and general 
details. 
It is these capsules, I believe, which botanists have named 
spongioles. I have a preparation in which I have succeeded 
in getting a view of the apex of a capsule in situ ; as it were, 
looking down upon it (fig. 6) . A sap-tube is seen bedded in 
a series of cells, which surround it in concentric circles, giving, 
under the sixth power, the appearance of a small dahlia. 
As the rule, every root, at a certain period of growth, 
unless it is forced by heat or some very fertilizing matter, 
very soon puts forth rootlets and suckers. The suckers con- 
sist of long, narrow, cell-like structures (fig. 7), the result of 
cell growing on cell, and the absorption of their walls of sepa- 
ration. They contain fine granular matter, and at their 
extremities there is a cavity of peculiar form always full of 
it. They take their origin from cells in the parenchyma, and 
may be traced through every stage of their growth. 
Besides these suckers, small lateral roots spring from the 
parent root (fig. 1 DD) . Their structure is identical with that 
of the root itself ; when detached and put up as preparations, 
they afford a beautiful illustration of the various forms of 
cells. 
The nature of their growth is this :— The epidermis of the 
main root slightly bulges outwards ; on this a mass of granular 
