488 PBOPESSOE HENPEET ON THE ANAIOJn: OF TICTOKIA BEOIA. 
of only two to four rootlets, break out in the same way from the bases of the petioles 
of the germinating plant (Plate XXIX. fig. 22). „ , . , „ „ 
Unlike the petioles, the roots retain the proper character of their vascular structures, 
and in these, as above noticed, they afford a further evidence of the systematic positron 
of the plant. In the fibro-vascular cord limning up the centre of the roots, the spira 
vessels are collected in the centre of the bundle, as m Dicotyledons (Plate XX . . 
fig. 17 Plate XXXI. fig. 5S), whereas in Monocotyledons they stand at the circum- 
ference of the bundles. The arrangement of air-chambers, so remarkable m all paits ot 
Yictoria, is especially elegant in the roots (Plates XXXI. & XXXII. figs, ol-o-o). 
The development of the flower was traced fr om the eaiiiest period at which the or ans 
could be distinguished. In the youngest bud (Plate XXX. fig. 27), about so* <>f “ 
inch in diameter, the peduncle was surrounded by a circle of nascent fohai- organs, 
which did not then cover-in the growing apex. Seen from above, this cmcle was imnd 
to consist of five organs (fig. 28), that is, of the four sepals and the first Th^> 
stood distinctly in a spiral order (fig. 29), in the succession as regards age indicated 
the figure Within these were a few rounded papillse contmumg the spnal but soon 
lost in the rounded pmiatum of the bud. This bud showed clearly that the 
primary arrangement of the organs here is a spiral, and that this spu-al is contmued 
from the imbricated calyx Into the corolla, where the arrangement is on a complex phyl- 
lot<£tctic type* 
In the next bud (fig. SO), the four sepals had grown up so as to enclose the yomger 
organs, and they now occupied the whole circumference of the receptacle. In the inside 
of them appeared nascent petals, and at this time the whole centre was occuP'ed by 
minute papilteform rudiments of organs. Fig. 31 shows the succeetog stages and 
when we come to fig. 32, the centre of the receptacle appears naked.-the fin,t st^ 
toward the productiL of the peculiar structure on which the floral envelopes and sta- 
mens are ultimately elevated. 
When the bud is about *th of an inch in diameter (fig. So), the centre of the lecq - 
tacle exhibits a dome-shaped smooth surface bounded by a raised rim, on which are 
supported the stamens and petals, bounded externally by the calyx. In the nex to 
(fifsi) the centre of the receptacle had risen up in a coiucal form, mid the intein.il 
surface of the annulai' ridge was marked by fine grooves, indicating the lormation of the 
free edges of the carpels. , 
It is unnecessary to describe at length the details of the successively older buds, as 
their important difference is clearly shown in the drawings accompanyrng this papei 
(Plates XXX & XXXI. figs. 34-60). It will be sufficient to notice two or three pom s. 
The carpels are never completely free from the receptacle, except at the edges which 
form the stigmatic lines, which lines are carried up on the internal surface of the im„ 
surrounding the ovary, to the ‘horns- which stand inside the stamens. hoim 
appear to consist of the points of the carpellary leaves. As regards the cav itie of the 
ovary, they at first point somewhat obliquely upwards, but gradually, by the deiel ( 
