45 Mr. WoopwARD's Effay towards an 
on which thefe ftood, fhould, according to Mr. Bryant (p. 39). 
have occafioned an irregularity in the plants. The lower volvæ, 
though not abfolutely coalefced, are fo united, that they cannot be 
feparated without fome force and damage; it is evident therefore 
that they grew clofe together before opening; and from the foil 
which ftill adheres, it is farther evident, that they were fixed in the 
ground to the tips of the lower volvz. Therefore, had thefe 
plants opened in the manner in which the ftellatum is known 
and acknowledged to expand, they would have been in the fitua- 
tion which is defcribed in the foregoing feétion ; and the heads muft 
have been mutually covered or fhaded on the fides where they 
touch, by the unexpanded rays, as reprefented in the figures 16. 
and 17. there referred to: or rather, as the earth in which they 
were funk muft have prevented their expanfion on the fides op- 
pofite to thofe on which they touch, they would have been re- 
prefented by fig. 2, fuppofing another exactly fimilar figure joined 
to it. But as the arch of each is fully and regularly formed, and the 
 volvz regularly divided ; and as from the fituation on which they 
grew, none of the accidental caufes fuppofed by Mr. B. could ope- 
rate upon thefe plants; it is evident that the heads, and quadrifid 
arched rays, on which they are fupported, muft have arifen from 
the volvæ, and fixed themfelves in their prefent form. A careful 
infpeétion of the fpecimens, and comparifon of them with the 
figures, and with what is here afferted, will, I truft, convince any 
unprejudiced obferver, that fuch muft be the mode of growth of 
this very extraordinary plant. | 
16. The lower volva (or cafe as it really is) is of a thick and 
rigid fubftance, extremely different from the thin outer coat of the 
ftellatum of Linn. and Hudf. as a bare infpeétion will evince; and 
the bottom of this, in the fully-expanded and perfect plant, is gene- 
rally 
