210 Rev. P. Keith on Phytological Errors, with Admonitions, 



facts of the case, at least as they have presented themselves 

 to my inspection. To me the spongioles seemed to present 

 the palpable rudiments of a vascular tissue also. 



It had been asserted by Duhamel and others, that the ex- 

 treme fibrils of the roots of plants die annually, in the winter, 

 and are renovated in the spring, in the manner, it may be 

 presumed, of leaves. Mr. Knight admitted the position with 

 regard to bulbous roots, but denied it with regard to the 

 roots of trees. To satisfy myself on this point, I took up por- 

 tions of the roots of several different plants, trees chiefly, 

 which brought the structure of the spongioles unavoidably 

 under my notice. 



On the first of September 1828, I took up a portion of the 

 root of a plant of the horse-chestnut, which had come up from 

 seed in the preceding spring. The fibrils, which were for the 

 most part in a vigorous state, presented the appearance of a 

 cylindrical mass of pulp, of a whitish colour, inclosing a firm 

 and central filament, and terminating ultimately in an enlarged 

 and flattened point, — the spongiole of De Candolle, — which, 

 when cut open, was found, as well as the rest of the fibril, to 

 inclose a fine and central filament, or rather a bundle of such 

 filaments united into one cord, like the filaments that compose 

 the nerves of animals. A few had begun to decay, and their 

 decay was indicated by the shrinking and shrivelling up of the 

 external and pulpy mass. But if some were thus in decay, 

 others were beginning to shoot out fresh and vigorous from 

 the larger divisions of the chevelure, so that there was no ap- 

 pearance of the commencement of any regular denudation of 

 the root, whether by the decay of fibril or of spongiole. 



On the 17th I took up the whole plant, and the appearances 

 were as before. 



On the 15th of November I took up a plant of dwarf box, 

 but did not find a single fibril in decay. The newly formed 

 ones were covered with a white, dense, and fine down through- 

 out the greater part of their length, but at the origin and 

 point they were smooth. They were also more tapering than 

 those of the horse-chestnut, and had less of the club-shaped 

 appearance. 



On the 28th I took up part of the root of an apricot, but 

 found no fibril wholly in decay. The outer coat of some of 

 them was indeed in decay, but the central filament was still 

 full of moisture, and a new coat forming. 



On the first of December I had some portions of the root 

 of an elm-tree taken up, at about ten or twelve feet from the 

 caudex. They were well furnished with fibrils, many of 

 which were in decay, but their loss was more than compen- 



