GERMINATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF EMBRYO OF ZEA MAYS 447 
lum were cut away with a dissecting knife. The embryos thus freed had 
a vermiform appearance and were formed, of course, of plumule and its 
sheath, mesocotyl, and radicle enclosed in its sheath. For the germination 
of these embryos small test tubes were used, and the embryos were sus- 
pended above the solution media by means of strips of filter paper, in one 
set of experiments, and by small rings of paraffine in another set. These 
experiments were checked in sterilized sand also. 
While many appropriate media were used for germination, in no case 
was the writer able to obtain plants with stem and radicle over 3 cm. 
long. It is interesting to report that in the first two days of germination 
a maximum growth was noticed, and that afterward the growth was very 
slow, many embryos withering away in from 6 to 8 days. The stem pro- 
duced was the expansion of the mesocotyl and the elongation of the plu- 
mule sheath in which the plumule could be seen to be of a light green color. 
One principal and two secondary roots, very poorly developed, were pro- 
duced. In no case was the plumule able to split its sheath and push out 
leaves. 
It was noticed that the withering and subsequent death of some em- 
bryos was, in the majority of cases, due to decay which developed at the 
point where the scutellum had been detached. The decay, starting in this 
region, soon encircled the embryo and separated the plumule from the 
radicle, which then could be pulled apart. 
The following table will illustrate one set of these experiments : 
The kernels of Z. everta used in this experiment were soaked for 12 hours 
in water, the embryos being then removed and germinated for 48 hours. 
The above figures represent the averages from 4 embryos in each case. 
From this table it will be noticed that the best germinations were ob- 
tained in 1.5 percent solution of sucrose, in i percent sucrose solution 
with a trace of nutrient solution, and in distilled water also with a trace 
of nutrient solution. Secondary roots were produced only in the 3 percent 
and 5 percent sucrose solutions and in the nutrient solutions. An interest- 
ing fact was the lack of germination in mixtures of sucrose, lactose, and 
diastase, in which the embryos began to decay before any signs of germina- 
tion appeared. 
Further Growth and Development of Embryos with Scutella 
(Endosperms Removed) as Compared with Plants Grown 
FROM Whole Kernels 
Embryos and kernels of maize, after a germination of seven days in 
sterilized sand, the former being watered with a i percent sucrose solution, 
and the later with water alone, were transplanted to the garden for further 
development. The results of similar experiments in 19 17 not having been 
uniform on account of transplantation, the experiments were repeated in 
