484 
PROFESSOE HEXFREY ON THE ANATOMY OF YICTOEIA EE&IA. 
commissure of the cotyledons, and presents in its upper part two iiTegular lobes, stand- 
ing opposite to each other and decussating vdth the cotyledons (/). These are descnbed 
by Trecul as the primordial leaves. 
In germination the hard seed-coat is opened by the separation of a httle hd or cap at the 
point opposite the radicle, and from the orifice thus formed emerges the sprouthig stmc 
tures of the young plant. In the accounts generally given, it is stated that the cotyledons 
remain in the seed, and the radicle and plumule emerge together, the latter elongating 
into a kind of stalk between the cotyledons and the first leaf. I cannot reconcile this 
account with the facts which I have met with. The cotyledons certainly remam withm 
the seed-coats, and, as it appeared to me, soon undergo decomposition; but I beheie 
that, in addition to this, the first leaf of the plumule (the larger of the two lobes visible 
in the embryo (fig. 21/) previously to germination) also remains nithin the seed-coats. 
In the specimen I examined the radicle had elongated but shghtly, pushing^ off the hd or 
operculum, which remained sticking upon its extremity (figs. 23 r, 24 A, 2or,o); at the 
side of the radicle emerged a stalk-like process (fig. 25, n), which at a httle distance 
horn the seed exhibited a blunt lateral protuberance (fig. 25 si), and there became bent 
at right angles; beyond the bend a long stalk-like portion succeeded (^2), at the endrf 
which the regular stem with undeveloped internodes commenced its growth (fig. 22). 
On extracting the germinating plant from the seed-coats (fig. 24), the stalk-like pioce^s 
noming out at the side of the radicle was found to arise side by side with the radicle 
from a fleshy mass (fig. 25 pi), which appears to be the plumule, and not the cotyledons, 
as usually described. The radicle is directly continuous with the main body of this fleshy 
mass, which seems to correspond with the larger lobe of the plumule of the embryo 
(fig. 21 /). The stalk above referred to (fig. 25, 1 1) seems to be an internode developed 
immediately above the first, undeveloped, leaf (fig. 2b pi), which remains hi the seed, 
merely becoming larger and more solid in texture. The protuberance at the angiilai 
bend (fig. 25 si) is probably the rudimentary second leaf (the smaller lobe seen on the 
plumule'^ fig. 21 /), indicating the end of the fii-st internode and the commencement of 
the second. The first, shorter, internodial portion (fig. 25, 1 1) is not cyliiidi-ical, but flat 
on one side, and twisted upon its axis, by which means the second interiiode conies to 
have an ascending direction; it was about ^tli of an inch long. The second interiiode 
{t 2) was about 1 inch long. It appears from Trecul’s account that an adventitious root 
is sometimes developed at the node where the bend takes place, but this was not the case in 
my specimen. I had not an opportunity of obseniiig the earliest stages of development 
of the true stem, which commences its formation in the summit of the second interuode, 
but the specimen which I examined bore all its leaves, and therefore left no uncertainty 
as to their conditions. Trecul says the leaves are alternate, but that the first two liaie 
no stipules, and the first no adventitious rootlets at its base. According to the account 
in the ^ Flora Indica,’ the first two leaves are opposite. In my plant the leaves of the 
rudimentary stem had assumed the spiral arrangement characteristic of the full-giomi 
rhizome, and even the very first penetrated a stipule, like all the succeeding, but as the 
earliest leaf is rudimentary in form, so its stipule is a mere scale. Teecul’s error arose 
