Mottier . — The Embryology of some Anomalous Dicotyledons . 449 
to withhold judgement in the matter. It may be remembered that in two 
other species of Corydalis studied by Schmid, C. nobilis and C. lutea , the 
embryo is dicotyledonous, but these species do not form tuberous stems, 
a phenomenon that will receive further attention in a later paragraph. 
Schmid speaks of these plants as pseudo-monocotyledons, but he does 
not discuss the question of phylogeny. In Ranunculus Ficaria , Eranthis 
hiemalis and Corydalis cava , the embryo, which is incompletely developed 
when the seed is ripe, continues its development after the latter falls from 
the plant, and this author carried out experiments which showed that the 
phenomenon in question is due rather to favourable physical conditions 
than to any specific property of the soil. Schmid’s study tended to show 
that the anomalous character of the embryo is closely associated with 
a geophilous habit and a short and tuberous stem. 
Cook (’02) states that only one cotyledon is present in Castalia odorata 
and Nymphaea advena , members of the Nymphaeaceae, as he did not find 
a bifurcation of the cotyledonary primordium, as described by Lyon (’01) for 
Nelumbo. Cook’s investigation does not seem to have been very exhaustive. 
Series of transverse sections through the cotyledonary origin at several stages 
in its early development, which are so necessary for a definite conclusion, 
are not given. He concludes that the Nymphaeaceae should be classed 
among the Naiadales. 
The same observer has shown that the embryo of Claytonia virginica 
(’03) is remarkably anomalous in character. The embryo of the mature seed 
possesses one large cotyledon, with only the mere rudiment of the second. 
The nature of the cotyledonary primordium is, however, not figured. 
Contrary to Cook, Schaffner (’04) finds that, in Nymphaea advena , the 
cotyledons arise from a crescentic primordium, as described by Lyon for 
Nelumbo. 
Working under the direction of the writer, Lewis (’04) made a careful 
study of the development of the embryo of three species of anomalous 
Dicotyledons, namely, Podophyllum peltatum , Caulophyllum thalictroides , and 
Jeffersonia diphylla , of the Berberidaceae. In each case the cotyledonary 
primordium is a broad, crescentic ridge open at one side, which develops 
from the truncated distal end of the usually pear-shaped embryo. From 
the centre of the truncated end enclosed by the cotyledonary primordium, 
develops the plumule, or apex of the stem. This ridge soon bifurcates at 
a point opposite the opening or primary sinus to form the two lobes, the 
cotyledons. With further growth, the two sinuses become of almost equal 
depth, so that the older stages do not reveal the true nature of the origin of 
the cotyledons. In P odophyllum- there is a rather long cotyledonary tube 
formed by the intercalary growth of the common base of the cotyledons. 
Approaching the subject of the phylogeny of the Angiosperms, with 
the anatomy of seedlings as data, Miss Sargant has brought together in a 
I i 2 
