On the formation of sugars in the septal 
glands of Narcissus. 
BY 
E. HAMILTON ACTON, B.A. 
St.John's College , Cambridge. 
With Woodcuts i, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. 
T HE nectaries of Narcissus belong to the class known 
as septal glands or inner nectaries, which constitute 
one of the most remarkable examples of the specialisation 
of tissues for a definite function to be met with in the 
vegetable kingdom, and are consequently well suited for 
a study of the changes which occur during secretion. 
Septal glands are only known to occur in monocotyledonous 
plants ; they were first described by Ad. Brongniart 1 in 
1855- 
The best account of the general nature of these organs 
is by Grassman 2 , which deals chiefly with the occurrence 
and rough anatomy of septal glands. The author gives a 
detailed list of all the natural orders and genera in which 
nectaries of this form have been observed, and also an account 
of their development 3 . With regard to the latter point 
Grassman arrives at the general conclusion, ‘ Die Septaldriisen 
entstehen durch teilweise N ichtverwachsung der Frucht- 
blatter in den Septan/ All my observations on the young 
stages of the ovary in Narcissus Tazetta , L., and N. pseudo - 
narcissus , L., show that this statement holds good for Narcissus. 
1 Ann. des Sc. Nat., ser. 4, tom. ii. 1855. 2 Flora, Ixvii (1884). 
3 Cf. sect. B. of his paper, Entstehung der Septaldriisen. 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. II. No. V, June 1888.] 
