%l?tW«/ and Fossil Comferte. 146 



Is liigbly probable ; bin ihe Dammara and Callitris remain for 

 investigation, and other tribes may possibly be found, that have 

 hitherto escaped the research of the botanist. 



There is nothing very striking to be seen in the concentric 

 section of the Araucaria. The expansions of the partitions arc 

 if any thing rather larger than in some other Coniferae. They 

 have a cylindrical form, and contain several elliptical openings 

 which are often confluent. The partitions of the vessels in this, 

 as in the radial section, present a very distinct fibrous structure- 

 A reference to Plate IV. will, however, convey a better idea 

 of the peculiarities displayed in the different sections than can 

 be given in words. Fig. 1. represents the transverse section ; 

 Fig. % the arrangement of the double rows of discs with their 

 polygonal boundaries ; Fig. 3. shows the arrangement of the 

 single row of discs ; and Fig. 4. is a representation of the con- 

 centric section. 



Although I have already mentioned the circumstance, it may 

 not be improper here to repeat, that the whole of the sections 

 figured in the three plates, are of the relative sizes, as seen by a 

 double convex garnet lens of about one-fortieth of an inch ra- 

 dius. They may, therefore, be considered as magnified about 

 four hundred times ; and to give some idea of the minuteness 

 of some of the parts represented, I may mention, that in one row 

 a twentieth of an inch long, I have counted not less than fifty 

 discs. The diameter of each could not, therefore, have exceed- 

 ed the thousandth part of an inch. But the smallest of these 

 discs are of an enormous size when compared with the fibres of 

 the partitions bounding the vessels in which they occur. By 

 using the same magnifying power, in making drawings of this 

 kind, we are enabled to judge correctly with regard to the re- 

 lative dimensions of the corresponding parts. In the sections of 

 some kinds of wood, I may add, the structure of the disc is to 

 be seen to great advantage when magnified about three hundred 

 times, and, with very few exceptions, the objects are better 

 seen by artificial light, as that of a candle, than by that of day. 



The whole of the drawings in the three plates were made by 

 Mr Scott, Surgeon in the East India Company's Service. Every 

 attention was bestowed to render them accurate representations, 

 and gentlemen, who have compared them with the sections from 



