THE PYGIDIUM OF THE COMMOX FLEA. 233 



upright or variously inclined or curved. They convey the idea of 

 solidity and of firmness, having nothing of the aspect of a bristle, 

 for they seem not to taper, but to be minute cylinders, each appa- 

 rently arising abruptly from its base, and having a truncated summit. 

 These appearances, however, may be illusory, as the sets are so 

 exceedingly minute that it is difficult to decide positively. But as 

 a test for definition, the reader will find the little appendages 

 entirely satisfactory. He may perhaps think that the resolving 

 power of the objective should likewise not be slight, and I should 

 be disposed to agree with him. 



All this structure, which the reader must admit to be sufficiently 

 complex, is visible within and above the pygidial areolae of all the 

 common species of Pulex which I have examined, but it seems to 

 be rather larger and more conspicuous within those of Pulex irri- 

 tans, especially with those specimens which are to be had in Cali- 

 fornia, where, in addition to big trees and some other large things, 

 our microscopical friends are so fortunate as to have big fleas. 



The Spider Plant. — Travellers who visited or passed the 

 Cape Negro country of Africa, says the Morning, often heard from 

 the natives of a plant that was part spider and threw its legs about 

 in continual struggles to escape. It was the good fortune of Dr. 

 Welwitsch to discover the origin of the legend. Strolling along 

 through a wind-swept table-land country, he came across a plant 

 that rested low on the ground, but had two enormous leaves that 

 blew and twisted about in the wind like serpents ; in fact, it looked, 

 as the natives had said, like a gigantic spider. Its stem was four 

 feet across and but one foot high. It had but two leaves in reality. 

 They were six feet to eight feet long, and split up by the wind so 

 that they resembled ribbons. This is probably the most extra- 

 ordinary tree known. It grows for nearly, if not quite a century, 

 but never upwards beyond about a foot, simply slowly expanding 

 until it reaches the diameter given, looking in its adult state like a 

 singular stool on the plain from ten feet to eighteen feet in circum- 

 ference. When the wind came rushing in from the sea, lifting the 

 curious ribbon-like leaves and tossing them about, it almost 

 seemed to the discoverer that the strange plant had suddenly 

 become imbued with hfe and was struggling to escdi^gQ.— Journal 

 of Horticulture. 



International Journal of Microscopy and Natural Science. 



Third Series. Vol. VI. Q 



