40 Mr. Woopwarp’s Efay towards an 
manner is the arched appearance of the rays accounted for; * dy 
* the fle/by coat which is very thick upon the fhoulders, as foon as it begins 
* fo fhrink, prefing fo forcibly upon the rays as to caufe them to contraët in 
* an arched direëtion. P. 27. But fo far is this from being the fact, 
that this thick coat, in all the other fpecies as well as in this, is def- 
titute of any fuch force at all; and if the plant be left undifturbed, 
as foon as it begins to fhrink, cracks, and peels off, or, if it remain 
on, dries to a mere thin cruft; which proves its nature to be too 
moift and fucculent to poffefs any elafticity whatfoever. It will 
befides be fhewn hereafter, that, if the rays of this plant contract 
at all, it is in breadth, and that at the fame time they increafe in 
length ; and it would be very difficult to conceive how this elaftic 
force (if any fuch there were) or preffure fhould act fo as to produce 
this double effect, If the freíhly-opened plant of the ftellatum 
Linn. and Hudf. be taken from its native place, and carried into a 
dry room, the thick coat will dry upon the rays without peeling off; 
and in this cafe it does indeed fomewhat contract them, but this 
merely from its fhrinking. When this happens, it is fo far from 
acting to occafion an arched appearance, that it only. increafes 
any tendency the rays may have had, from fituation, to contract 
irregularly; inftead of being incurved, as thofe of ftellatum always 
become in age, and after lofing this thick coat, if free and uncon- 
ftrained. This fpongy coat in the recently-opened plant entirely 
hides the peduncle, and the head appears perfectly feffile; and this 
- appearance fometimes continues when the plant is immediately re- 
moved from its place of growth, and fuffered to dry very flowly. 
This may perhaps account for fo many authors having defcribed 
the ftellatum with a feffile head; and the figures of Scheffer, t. 
182, feem to anfwer to this, they being evidently taken from plants 
juft opened. That fuch is the fact is very likely, as very few of the 
defcriptions or figures of thefe authors accord perfectly with the 
Lyco- 
