46 
NATURE NOTES 
minated Cystoptevis fragilis in a south-west Cumberland station, 
and then blamed me because I knew the locality. Then is it 
not a fact that Cypripedium Calceolus was uprooted in a West 
Yorkshire locality by the efforts of a professor of botany at a 
certain University. As it is in print, and has not been denied 
so far as I know, it seems as if it were true. These men are 
unfortunately not exceptions, neither is the clerical barbarian 
who shot the hoopoe, further south, in Lancashire, a few years 
ago. The wild birds on Walney Island are now brought under 
the Act, and in some cases the time has been extended ; this is 
due to the energy of a few Barrow gentlemen, and not before 
the case warranted their intervention.” 
Set of “Nature Notes” for Sale. — A member has a 
complete set of the nine volumes of Nature Notes for sale, 
unbound, for i8s., or offers. Apply to the Editor. 
OBSERVATIONS FOR YOUNG BOTANISTS. 
III. — Stems. 
INDS OF Stems. — Stems may be subterranean, aquatic, 
‘ or aerial, i.e., on land. The differences between them 
I are very obvious, being adaptations in structure to 
these three media, which have compelled them to arise. 
The first kind may be long and slender, growing to a great length 
if the soil be loose, as in sand. Several grasses and sedges are 
planted in sand-hills by the sea, so that they may bind the sand 
and prevent its being blown away. Garden mint and the lily of 
the valley are good examples. It is a means of spreading the 
plant apart from seed. The subterranean stems are perennial, 
while the leafy flowering shoots which arise from them are 
annual. 
Another kind is called a rhizome, being short and thick, as 
that of flags; but potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes are called 
tubers. Their use is to multiply the plant, but as they become, 
in the case of the tubers at least, more or less independent of the 
parent, they contain a quantity of nourishment to supply the 
“ eyes,” which grow up into new plants. 
That they are only branches altered in structure by growing 
underground may be seen by experiments. If when a potato 
plant has appeared above ground, one of its subterranean 
branches be lifted up and exposed to air and light, it will now 
grow into a leafy shoot, instead of forming a tuber at the end of 
it. Conversely, if all the underground shoots be removed, so 
that m tubers can be formed there, so strong is the tendency to 
produce them, that this may overcome the formation of leafy 
branches and convert them into aerial tubers all over the plant 
instead. 
