the same with those denominated fig-leaves in the history of that transaction as related by Moses. The leaves of some of the Palms, in their compound dimensions, are sometimes to be met with of the extent of from ten to fifteen feet in length; the length of the largest of the individual leafits being three feet.' Vol. I. pp. 57, 58.

Leaves, also, exhibit anomalies. Of these, the formation of the Nut Galls, upon the leaves of a species of Oak which grows abundantly in the Levant, is a familiar example, and is interesting as connected with the formation of ink and dyes. It is caused by the puncture of an insect, of the Cynips genus, for the deposition of the egg. The pink glandular tumours upon Willows, particularly upon the Salix alba, (the Common White Willow,) is well known to us, even from our infant days. If this be opened at the proper season, it will be found to contain a single maggot. Such cases as these may be classed among anomalies, whether they occur in the animal or in the vegetable world, because they are distinctly-marked departures from the laws which, in the perfect individual, regulate its form and structure; and are occasioned by external, or accidental causes, which cause the secretions to be irregularly performed in the parts affected. We cannot, however, agree with Mr. Keith, in referring the welldefined though singular structure of the leaves of the genera Sarracenia and Nepenthes, to anomalies of figure; since the curious conformation of these leaves falls as strictly within the laws of vegetable physiology, as those which have a more familiar aspect. In the first part of this Article, we have mentioned these singular plants, with the analogy of form which subsists between them and some of the inventions of human art; we cannot abstain from another quotation relative to the functions of these leaves. Linnæus imagined that the pitcher-form has been given to them, for the purpose of enabling them to retain a supply of water. Dr. Smith offers a different solution, upon

which Mr. Keith thus comments:

An insect of the Spher or Ichneumon kind had been observed by one of the gardeners of the botanic garden at Liverpool, to drag several large flies to a leaf of Sarracenia adunca [Hook-leaved Sidesaddle-flower], and to force them into the tubular part of it. On examination the leaf was found to be about half-filled with water, 'in which the flies were now struggling; the other leaves were also examined, and were found crammed with dead or drowning flies. The leaves of Sarracenia purpurea [Purple Side saddle flower] are said to exhibit also the same phenomena, and seem peculiarly well adapted to entrap or detain flies, by having the margin beset with inverted hairs, rendering the escape of such insects as may have accidentally fallen into the watery tube, or are intentionally forced into it, impracticable; so that the putrid exhalation from the dead insects contained in the leaf often offends the nostrils, even in passing near the plant. Hence Sir J, E. Smith infers that the growth of the plant is perhaps

benefited by means of the air evolved by the dead flies, which the water has been intended to tempt, and the leaves to entrap and retain, This ingenious conjecture is no doubt sufficiently plausible as far as the plant may be affected; but cannot be regarded as quite satisfactory till such time as it shall have been shewn that the health of the plant is injured when insects are prevented from approaching

it.'

The celebrated Nepenthes distillatoria [Ceylon Pitcher-plant] exhibits also an anomaly similar to that of Sarracenia, but more striking if possible. The leaf, which is itself lanceolate, terminates at the summit in a thread-shaped pedicle supporting a pitcher-shaped process, surmounted with a lid, and holding an ounce or two of a fluid which appears to be secreted from the leaf, and to be intended as a lure for insects, which gain admission either by the spontaneous opening of the lid, or by forcibly raising it themselves. The consequence is that they fall into the fluid and are drowned, no insect being capable of living in it except a certain small Squilla or shrimp with a protuberant back, which, according to Rumphius, sometimes crawls into it and can live there. To this phenomenon Sir J. E. Smith applies the same solution as above, which is of course liable to the same objection.' II. pp. 285, 286.

The term objection' is improperly applied to the notion of Dr. Smith, since from Mr. Keith's own statement, it only appears that a decisive experiment which shall either confirm or overthrow this proposed solution, has not yet been made. We must further remark that Mr. Keith has brought forward only a part of Dr. Smith's statement, who admits that the Ichneumon in the one case, and the Squilla in the other, store up small flies and worms in these vegetable larders, as convenient repositories for the food destined for themselves or their progeny. Thus, perhaps, a double purpose is answered by these singular natural conformations, for they are certainly not anomalies', of the leaf.

Some of the most interesting details in these volumes, will be found in those sections in which the Author treats of the inflorescence, the functions of the stamens and pistils, the propagation of the species, the structure and germination of the seeds, &c. Under the head of Stamens,' we meet with the following curious information, respecting the farina contained in the cells of the anthers.

Where the anthers consist of cells, as in most cases, they contain also a fine powder, which botanists denominate the pollen, and which at the period of the maturity of the flower, bursts its integuments and explodes, the integuments assuming soon after a withered and shrunk appearance. In some plants the pollen explodes with considerable force, the cells bursting open as if by an elastic spring, and dispersing it by their own spontaneous action. In the Cypress tree it is thrown out with such force and in such abundance, as to resemble a cloud of smoke and if the flowers of the Birch or Willow are suddenly shaken when the pollen is ripe, they will

T

exhibit a similar phenomenon. The aperture by which the pollen is discharged, is sometimes a small pore opening near the summit, as in the Heaths; but generally it is a longitudinal slit, as in the Lily; and it is always effected in some definite or determinate manner in the same species.

The colour of the pollen is very generally white; but sometimes it is yellow or orange, and sometimes it is glaucous or violet. When examined under the microscope the individual particles are found to assume a great variety of forms in different flowers. They are often globular, oval, or cylindrical. But in the Viciet they are angular; in the Narcissus they are kidney-shaped; in the Geranium [Crane'sbill] they are perforated, and in the Orchis they are conglomerated into masses. The surface of the globules is generally smooth; sometimes it is net-like; sometimes it is wrinkled; and sometimes it is beset with prickles, as in Maloa [the Mallow] and Helianthus annus [the Annual Sun-flower.]

But the individual particles of the pollen are themselves organized substances; as may be seen also with the assistance of a good microscope, each particle consisting of a thin and membranous bag, capable of resisting the action of the air, but extremely susceptible to the action of moisture, which as soon as it meets with, it explodes, like the anther itself, discharging a fine subtile vapour, or a sort of fluid in which there are contained globules still smaller. The discharge of the primitive globules may be seen by placing an anther of the Equisetum [Horse-tail] upon a bit of paper, and watching it till it bursts, when it will often afford a very curious and singular spectacle; the globules after having made their escape seeming to be still in agitation, attracting and repelling one another, and rebounding as if endowed with a peculiar irritability. The discharge of the secondary globules is discoverable particularly in the pollen of the Valerian; and the experiment is best made by placing the anthers on water.' I. pp. 112–114.

In the Section which treats of the Anomalies of develop'ment of the flower,' Mr. Keith has rather given us a catalogue of irregularities in the inflorescence, than entered upon any physiological discussion of the causes by which they are produced. It is by the artificial encouragement afforded to these 'anomalies,' that the florist is indebted for many of the gayest patches of the parterre, and for some of the most splendid specimens of cultivating skill which adorn the green-house. Notwithstanding the rich display of gaudy petals exhibited by the multiplied corolla of a double flower, the Botanist must claim the scientific privilege of calling them monsters; for the appellation is as truly applied to such productions, as it would be to an animal in which one member was a hundred-fold, to the exclusion of some other part of the body. In such plants, in vain does the systematic botanist look for the exquisitely harmonious structure of the most perfect parts of the vegetable, by which he is enabled to class, or to in vestigate, to communicate his knowledge of the science to others,

or to acquire it himself; while the physiological observer, however his eyes may be feasted with the glowing tints presented to his view, is constrained to consider as tawdry imperfections, all those productions of art in which the laws of nature have been violated, and the vegetable secretions have been forced into irregular channels, so as to give birth to unnatural deficiencies and monstrous redundancies. As a matter of pure taste, also, there are, perhaps, few instances in which the simple flower, (surrounding by its delicate corolla, the exquisite little system of stamens and pistils,) is not vastly more elegant than the more showy blossom, in which the essential parts of the plant are excluded, to make way for a crowded multiplication of petals.

The anomaly most generally consists in the undue multiplication of the divisions of the corolla, by the conversion of part of the stamens into petals, which is occasionally to be met with both in monopetalous and polypetalous flowers. It occurs but seldom, however, in flowers growing in their natural state and habitat, though you will now and then meet with a double flower even in such circumstances. I have met with several specimens of the Ranunculus acris [Upright Crowfoot] in which the Corolla consisted of a double row of petals, even when growing wild in the fields: but double flowers are for the most part the effect, and often also the object of cultivation.....The ful flower is generally described to be that in which the divisions of the Corolla are so multiplied as to exclude the stamens and pistils wholly by means of their conversion into petals; which conversion is most readily effected in polypetalous flowers, such as the Tulip, Poppy, Pink, and Ranunculus; monopetalous flowers seldom being found full. This complete metamorphose, is, I believe, always the effect of cultivation, and is, indeed, one of the principal objects of the art of the florist; the beauty of the flower, according to general estimation, being thus much augmented....The pistil is often converted into a leaf, as may be seen by inspecting the flower of the double-blossomed Cherry, which generally protrudes from the centre a leaf in miniature.' II. pp. 288, 289.

We have again to make a remark, similar to a preceding one, that the Author is incorrect in bringing forward the example of Ruscus (Butcher's Broom), in which the flower is protruded from the surface of the leaf, as an instance of an anomaly in the situation of the flower. It is not an anomaly, being a natural and perfect, though not common, conformation.

When treating of the appendages of the fruit,' Mr. Keith gives us the following curious example of the veiled receptacle.

If the appendage embracing the ovary covers it only partially, the fruit is then said to be veiled, as in that of the Hazel, which is veiled by the calyx: or of the Yew-tree, which is veiled by the receptacle.'

The fruit of Cyamus Nelumbo' [Nelumbium speciosum of the

Hortus Kewensis,-the Sacred Bean of India*] which is also veiled by the receptacle, presents a very curious and singular spectacle in its ripened state; the receptacle, which is of an inversely conical figure with a broad and flat base, being excavated into a number of small and hollow cells, in each of which is lodged a seed or nut protruding by its upper extremity through the orifice of its cell, and thus consequently veiled. But at the period of the maturity of the seed, this curious and singular receptacle, laden with fruit, separates from its supporting stalk, and floats down the stream in which it the seeds often germinating, and the young plants shooting as it floats along, giving the whole a fancied or a slight resemblance to a Cornucopia. And hence, perhaps, the origin of its mythological celebrity, having been regarded among ancient and eastern nations as the emblem of fertility.' I. p. 187.

grew;

Nothing can be more interesting to the botanical student, than to remark the provision which has been made by the Creator for the reproduction of the species, either by the luxuriant offsets of the roots, (in which case it is rather an extension of the individual, than a reproduction,) or by the abundance of the seeds brought to maturity by a single plant. The atmosphere is almost filled with the principles of future vegetable existence. Among the Syngensian tribes, how many millions of seeds, produced within a very limited space, sail above our heads, suspended from the elegantly feathered pappus, by means of which they are wafted upon the breeze, like so many little balloons, to regions far removed from their native spot! The minute seeds of the Ferns, the Mosses, and (perhaps) the Lichens, float upon the wind, invisible to the naked eye; and are thus dispersed, in inconceivable myriads, over the face of the earth; being carried far away from the native plant, to give verdure to some remote waste, or to shade the ruggedness of some distant rock!

But the great fertility of some peculiar species is truly astonishing; a single capsule of Tobacco often contains one thousand seeds. A single capsule of Papaver somniferum, or the White Poppy, has been known to contain eight thousand; and a single capsule of the Vanilla from ten thousand to fifteen thousand. A single stalk of Zea Mays [Common Indian-Corn] will produce two thousand seeds: a single plant of Inula Helenium, or Elicampane, three thousand; and a single spike of Typha major, or Greater Cat's-tail, ten thousand. A single plant of Tobacco has been found by calculation to produce the almost incredible number of three hundred and sixty thousand; and a single stalk of Spleen-wort [Scolopendrium vulgare] has been thought, by estimation, to produce at least a million of seeds.' I. 171, 172.

"

This splendid plant was esteemed so sacred that the Egyptian priests were not allowed to look upon it. There is a beautiful repre sentation of it in the Exotic Botany of Dr. Smith, Vol. I. Tab. 82, 33. Rev.