Notes. 
654 
unable to examine these species, but in Cucumis perenne and Lagenaria clavata 
I find falling starch in younger as well as older internodes quite to the apex, and in 
Bryonia dioica i which according to Tondera possesses no endodermis, I find the 
same distribution of statoliths. 
My observations were made during the early summer (May to July) 1904, with 
rather thick sections of fresh material mounted in a solution of iodine in potassium 
iodide. 
D. F. M. Pertz. 
Cambridge. 
ON THE PRESENCE OF A PARICHNOS IN RECENT PLANTS 1 .— If 
a mature sporophyll of Isoetes Hystrix be examined, there will be seen in the lateral 
expansions of its base two longitudinal cavities containing a certain amount of muci- 
lage, and situated one on each side of the vascular bundle, in close proximity to the 
sporogenous mass. By the examination of sporophylls in different stages of develop- 
ment, it may be ascertained that the above-mentioned canals arise by the mucilaginous 
degeneration of two strands of parenchyma. The structure in question does not extend 
into the cortex of the stem, but is confined entirely to the base of the sporophyll, its 
limits seemingly depending upon the extent of the sporangium. Whether the same 
features obtain in sterile leaves has not been determined, owing to the lack of 
material. Indications of a similar structure were observed in other species of Isoetes. 
It is suggested that these strands of degenerating tissue, and the resulting 
mucilage-containing canals of the mature leaf, represent the parichnos occurring in 
Lepidodendron , Sigillaria , Lepidocarpon , &c, 
T. G. Hill. 
Kew. 
1 Abstract of paper read before Section K at the Cambridge Meeting of the British Association, 
August, 1904. 
