1 50 Thiselton-Dyer . — Morphological Notes. 
will be seen, it was conclusively shown by the cases represented 
in PI. IX, Figs. 1-3, that the young plants were the result of 
precocious germination. 
Mr. Horace Brown kindly allows me to make use of the 
following notes which he drew up at the time : — 
‘ The cotyledonary leaves of several plantlets measured 
1 1 in. long and ii in. across, and were of a light-green colour. 
The hypocotyls were about 2 in. long and i in. in diameter. 
The roots were well developed, with secondary root-fibres up 
to J in. in length. 
‘ The plants had undoubtedly been produced from seeds, 
since in some cases the two halves of the testa were still 
attached to the cotyledons, and a few seeds were found in the 
early stages of germination. In one instance a tap-root was 
found to have actually penetrated the solid parenchyma of 
the pericarp to a depth of about \ in., considerable force 
being required to withdraw it. This root is shown in PI. IX, 
Fig. 2, the point to which it had penetrated being indicated 
by a dotted line. Penetration of the pericarp by the roots 
seemed to have occurred only in exceptional cases : for the 
most part they ramified amid the placentas and the broken- 
down ovarian tissue, from which they seem to have derived 
their nourishment. 
‘ The dry weight of the plantlets far exceeded that of the 
seeds from which they were produced. Sixteen perfect seeds, 
after washing and drying, were found to weigh 0-1560 gram., 
or an average of -0097 gram, for each seed, including the 
testa. 
‘The dry weight of one of the plantlets was 0-1929 gram., 
or about twenty times the weight of the seed from which it 
sprang. Hence there can be no doubt that the plant had 
availed itself of a large amount of nutriment which could only 
have been derived from the fruit.’ 
It is obvious that the physiological problem is one of 
considerable interest. The seedlings would speedily have 
exhausted the nutriment stored up in the seed, and their 
further development would have been arrested if there had 
