A Theory of the Origin of Monocotyledons, 
founded on the Structure of their Seedlings. 
BY 
ETHEL SARGANT. 
With Plates I- VII and ten Figures in the Text. 
HEN some years ago I was working out the anatomical 
V V structure of the seedlings of Arum maculatum in 
collaboration with Mrs. Scott (36), we examined the seedlings 
of some other Aroids, and compared them with two species 
of Lilium seedlings. The anatomy of seedling Monocotyle- 
dons has received but little attention from botanists, and 
Dr. D. H. Scott suggested that I should pursue the subject 
by making a comparative study of those already collected by 
him from the material at Kew, and preserved for future 
investigation. I have to thank him not only for the start 
then made, but for his unfailing interest in the work as it 
developed, and for constant help in obtaining fresh supplies of 
material. The object proposed from the first was to throw 
light, if possible, on the relationship between Monocotyledons 
and Dicotyledons. 
After some months of work in my own laboratory on 
the Kew material, I found it desirable to modify and extend 
the original scheme. The vascular system of the cotyledon, 
hypocotyl, and primary root appeared in the specimens 
I examined to be characteristic of the species. One of my 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. XVII. No. LXV. January, 1903. J 
