s-orue; and the doctor told him he was for 
" c . V 
ninety and if he liherl even one hundred. Bower 
c 
was 80 last month. Two old “bachelors 1 
I v/as sorr^^ not to have an 3 /'thing for you^or 
the Ridley celebration number. I have two short 
papers with Rend3-e for the tTourna3- of Botany, but 
neither was in any way suitable for you. One is on 
/ 
an toerican t)iosoorea and the other on the english. 
Tainsis. I flatter myself that hoth. are interesting 
* 
(to the risiht person). They dead with the length o: 
< 
the internodes being connected with the leaves in 
* " » 
a curious way. Take the bud: it is coated with 
growing leaves and the internodes are beginning to 
elongate. The internode between leaf A and leaf B 
will grow to a certain length: the internode 
% 
between B and C, will only grow to much less. But 
< 
what each grows to depends on the position of the 
leaf whether on this side or that of the a:jcis. 
The Hioscorea has two orthostich ies of maximiun 
elongation/ I3HBXSXX3^¥XMHI^DOQ5JC5X on opposite sides 
0 
The orthostichies with elongation in Tamus are' all on 
one side of the stem. My next business i-s to find 
I 
out what happens in these Bioscoreas which have 
♦ 
alternate leaves at the laiwse and apex of the sirem 
but opposite leaves in the middle. Tinter has 
stopped the work; but in spring I shall work on the 
Chinese yam which grows readily/” at hew in the open, 
f 
Toether I can go further or not I do not yet know. 
