401 
Geophilous Species of Peperomia . 
refringent contents ; they are of the nature of gland-cells (vide p. 405), and 
remind one of the similar glands on the upper surface of the leaves of 
these plants or of the glands in Limoniastrum monopetalum l . 
They appear to be of the nature of hydathodes 2 , and no doubt in this 
species, which was found growing in damp and shady places, they serve for 
the excretion of the excess of water. The apex of the fruit, or rather the 
style, is seen in longitudinal section to be mainly composed of a group 
of reticulately thickened cells. 
Germination. 
P. peruviana. The earliest stages in the germination of the seeds 
of this species have not been discovered, but some of the material is suffi- 
ciently young to suggest that the commencement of germination agrees 
with that of P. peliucida , described by Johnson 3 . The stigmatic portion of 
the carpel is pushed aside by the outgrowing radicle, and is sometimes 
found adhering to the pericarp wall (Text-fig. 3, p. 402) ; the radicle grows 
vertically downwards into the soil and anchors itself by root-hairs. The 
two cotyledons lying face to face within the seed, surrounded by the endo- 
sperm, absorb the food material and pass it outwards along their petioles to 
be redeposited in a small hypocotyledonary swelling, which very early makes 
its appearance just below the point of union of the two cotyledon stalks 
with the axis (Fig. 5, PL XXIX ; Text-figs. 1-4, p. 402). From this point 
onwards the whole course of the germination differs from that of P. peliucida , 
and as far as I am aware from any other dicotyledonous plant. The 
hypocotyl remains quite short and becomes bulbous, and starch is deposited 
in its cells (contrast Johnson, Figs. 37 and 39, also Text-figs. 1 and 3, p. 402, 
1-4, p. 420). At the same time the petiole of one of the cotyledons, which 
is also the larger, elongates whilst the lamina is still within the seed, so that 
it becomes sharply bent after the manner of the seed-leaf of the Onion ; 
this growth continues until the whole of the leaf is pulled out of the seed, 
and on emerging from the soil it becomes erect and expands into a small 
green and slightly peltate lamina (Figs. 5-8 and 13, PL XXIX ; Text-fig. 3, 
p. 402). The lamina of the smaller cotyledon, however, never leaves the 
seed, and its petiole remains quite short and slender. 
Thus we have here a very beautiful example of the differentiation 
of labour between the two cotyledons, for whilst one serves entirely as 
an absorbent organ and is hypogeal, the other is epigeal, and though 
no doubt the latter is able to absorb some reserve material when within the 
seed, its main function is that of assimilation (cf. Text-fig. 4, p. 402). In 
these particular seedlings the laminae of the two cotyledons are somewhat 
1 Wilson, Ann. Bot., iv, p. 243. 
2 Haberlandt, Phys. Pflanz.-Anat., ed. ii, p. 417. 
3 Johnson, Bot. Gaz., xxxiv, p. 331 ; cf. Figs. 34, 36, 37. 
