269 



surrender the image and superscription of his majesty on such a dismal and 

 wretched pretence as this. If Robert ever had been confined in the dungeon I 

 was ushered into, there was little necessity to put out his eyes, for they would not 

 even have shown him a spider on the wall. I darted hastily off, resumed my 

 seat, and resolved to abandon dungeon explorations, where no sight of plant, no 

 sound of insect, or form of beauty was likely to repay my search. 



( To be continued). 



ON THE EVIDENCE OF DESIGN OBSERVABLE IN THE VITAL 



ECONOMY OF THE COLCHICUM AUTUMNALE, (Linn.), 



OR COMMON MEADOW SAFFRON.* 



By William Allport Leighton, Esq., B.A., F.B.S.E., &c. 



The innumerable instances of design, or the adaptation of certain means to a 

 corresponding end, visible in apparently the most insignificant works of nature, 

 merit the attention and claim the admiration of man. In the vegetable world, 

 no less than in other departments of creation, this observation holds in full force, 

 for almost every plant which either displays its beauteous blossoms to gladden and 

 attract the eye, or which merely uprears its minute verdure from the surface of 

 the tempest-riven rock or time-worn ruin, only to lend its aid in forming one of those 

 varied tints which contribute so materially to the picturesque beauty of such situ- 

 ations, will be found, on careful examination, to possess contrivances for the sup- 

 port and reproduction of the particular species which evince the most consummate 

 skill, the most unbounded wisdom. 



In the Colchicum autwmnale, or Meadow Saffron, these provisions are pecu- 

 liarly worthy our careful attention. This plant is included in the Linnean Class 

 Hexandria, and belongs to the Natural Order Melanthacece ; a tribe abounding 

 in a powerfully acrid and poisonous principle, which, under the guidance of expe- 

 rience and judgment, has proved of essential service in medicine. The lower 

 portion of the stem of the Colchicum autumnale is swollen into a cormus or solid 

 bulb (see Fig. I, a, a),f and lies deeply buried in the earth, invested by the dried 



* Read before the Shropshire and North Wales Natural History and Antiquarian 

 Society, November 1, 1836. 



+ a, the entire plant as it appears in the autumn — b, the young bulb and stem attached 

 to the parent bulb — c, the parent bulb, (the young bulb being removed), showing the 

 groove and the attaching fibres— o, exterior and interior views of the young plant detach- 



