Function of the Septal Glands -in Kniphofia . 23 
terlstic of this stage in the development of the flower are those 
which have been described as occurring towards the end of 
stage C. It would therefore appear that by the time that the 
disintegration of the starch is well-advanced, and has become 
general in the gland-cells, an appreciable amount of nectar 
has been secreted. How much earlier than this the sugar 
makes its appearance I am unable to state, but it seems not 
improbable that some is formed simultaneously with the first 
indication of a breaking down of the starch, but that the 
amount is too small to be detected by the above-mentioned 
method, and that the disappearance of the one is directly 
connected with the appearance of the other. This change is 
doubtless effected by the protoplasm, and is presumably due 
to some ferment-action. 
As the starch disappears from the cells the protoplasm 
again becomes vacuolated, and assumes a most characteristic 
arrangement, viz., that of a coarse meshwork which gradually 
extends throughout the whole cell. As secretion continues 
the protoplasm gradually decreases in amount, and seems to 
be used up in the process ; the strands become fewer, and the 
vacuoles, owing to the consequent fusion, larger. This con- 
tinues until the strands have all disappeared, the fusion is 
complete, and the cells contain a single large vacuole. 
As the strands disappear the nuclei of the epidermal cells, 
either pushed by the enlarging vacuoles, or carried with the 
retreating protoplasm, are gradually withdrawn from their 
position in the centre of the cell into the protoplasm lining 
the cell-wall ; in the sub-epidermal cells this migration of the 
nucleus takes place earlier. 
In this last stage then, when the period of secretion has 
come to a close, the appearance of both kinds of cells is 
similar to that of ordinary adult parenchymatous cells. 
recognition by any external mark of a stage intermediate between that at which 
the perianth is just opening and that at which the anthers have begun to dehisce 
is very difficult. Since however the histological changes run the same course in 
the gland-cells of both species, it seemed to me not unjustifiable to assume 
that the appearance of the nectar is probably coincident with the same typical 
stage in both cases. 
