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SEASONAL VARIATIONS OF BRANCH OF HORSE-CHESTNUT. 501 
Pratt 26 (continued). 
Fig. 34. Symblepharis Reinwardti, Mitt. ; mouth of capsule. x 25. 
.. 85. Ditto; areolation of leaf-base. x 255. 
36. ,, » between leaf-base and subula. X 255. 
37. S. circinata, Besch. ; part ofleaf-base. x 255. 
38. Ditto; trans. sect. of leaf-base. x 400. 
/ 
f 
Preliminary Observations on the Seasonal Variations of Elevation 
in a Branch of a Horse-Chestnut Tree. By MirnE&R 
CnunisTY, F.L.S. 
[Read 16th June, 1898.] 
(PrATE 27.) 
Growrne in my garden at ‘ Pryors, in the parish of Broomfield, 
about two miles north-east from Chelmsford, is a tree of the 
Horse-Chestnut (ZEsculus Hippocastanum). l 
Five or six years ago my attention was attracted to it by 
observing the fact that the elevation above the ground of a 
certain branch of this tree which happened to project over one 
of the garden paths varied very noticeably at different seasons 
of the year. During mid-winter, when the branch was bare of 
leaves, its elevation above the ground was so great that no 
obstruction was caused to the path beneath; but, at mid- 
summer, when the branch was covered with leaves, its elevation 
above the ground was so slight as to interfere very inconve- 
niently with free passage along the path. l 
Having noticed this fact for a year or two, 1t occurred to me 
that, if I made a series of observations in order to determine 
precisely what was the amount of this seasonal variation, tho 
result might prove of some interest. I have now continue eso 
observations for exactly three years, and I propose, in wha 
follows, to detail the result. , 1 
The faet that branches of trees do undergo certain seasona 
changes in elevation above the ground vill, of course, have been 
observed by every one in the case of cultivated fruit-trees, the 
