Function of the Septal Glands in Kniphofia. 1 7 
( j3 ) At first starch-grains are still very abundant, but 
later they become disorganised, and begin to disappear ; 
this disorganisation is especially apparent in the more 
external part of the cells. In the majority of the cells 
there is a considerable increase in the amount of granular 
substance ; in a few here and there the protoplasm is 
arranged in the form of a coarse mesh work \ as a result 
of vacuolation. 
(b) In the sub-epidermal layers there is even less alteration 
in the appearance of the cells ; the starch-grains are 
beginning to break down, and the granular substance 
has increased in amount ; here too, as in the epidermal 
cells, the formation of a protoplasmic meshwork and 
vacuoles is occasionally seen. 
D. Flower-tube open, some or all of the anthers having 
dehisced (Fig. 7 ). 
(a) In this stage there is a marked alteration in the appear- 
ance of the cells. 
(a) The characters of the external wall are similar to 
those described in the preceding stage, but are slightly 
exaggerated ; about this time the mucilaginous degenera- 
tion reaches its height. 
(j 8 ) Very little starch is to be found in the cells, in fact 
so rapid has its disappearance been, that in those flowers 
in which all the anthers have dehisced, most of the cells 
are entirely free from it. The protoplasmic meshwork, 
which in the previous stage is not unfrequently to be 
found here and there occupying a small part of an isolated 
cell, is now almost universal ; it extends from the denser 
perinuclear protoplasm to that which lines the cell- wall, 
and is generally closer towards the lumen than at the 
base of the cell. The meshes are spherical or polygonal, 
1 I have intentionally used the term meshwork in preference to network , since I 
am inclined to believe that this structure ought not to be regarded as a true 
network. 
C 
