68 Mr. Kippist on the existence of Spiral Cells 



for which I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Brown, being 1 from the banks 

 of the Congo. In all three the structure of the testa and its appendages is very 

 similar to that of Acanthodium, but differs in the following particulars: — 



First. The testa is less transparent than in Acanthodium, the cells being 

 formed of thicker membrane, smaller, and more nearly filled with dark 

 grumous matter, and the ceils surrounding the bases of the hairs are precisely 

 similar in form to the rest, not elongated, as in Acanthodium. Secondly. The 

 hairs consist of a larger number of tubes (sometimes amounting to fifty), which 

 are quite cylindrical, not compressed, of nearly equal diameter throughout their 

 whole length, and containing a thicker and more loosely coiled spiral fibre. 

 This fibre is very generally single ; and instead of being reticulated in the 

 coherent portions of the tubes, it either continues spiral, or is disposed in 

 distinct rings, which are separated from each other by an interval of four or 

 five times the width of the fibre ; whereas in Acanthodium the coils are usu- 

 ally quite contiguous. The species differ from each other only in a few unim- 

 portant particulars, chiefly in the size and number of the tubes composing the 

 hairs, which are smaller and more numerous in Blepharis molluginifolia than 

 in either of the others. In B. rubiifblia they appear to me to be rather larger, 

 and occasionally, but very rarely, contain two spiral fibres. 



Although the fasciculated hairs already described are, as we have seen, of 

 rare occurrence in Acanthaeev, many species of that family have their seeds 

 abundantly supplied with appendages, which, notwithstanding that they do 

 not adhere together, are evidently of the same nature. The most common 

 form of these appendages is that of subulate tubes or hairs, usually so closely 

 apposed as not to be perceptible upon the dry seed, but expanding in water, 

 and often discharging abundance of mucilage from their extremes. They 



7 f nei ' ally fui>nished With - Vernal fibre, which is disposed either 



e s !T r™ ° r m diStlnCt *» ^ b0th fo ™ ^quently occur in 

 tnZTl ^ r* imeS ° CCUPy the "*■ 8Qrface <<*» *Ld, some- 



i ir r ; i°; ts K margin - Exampies ° f -*■■ ■— —^ *■ 



wto™ :i;:t r k r d b, r shaped somewhat in - -<** . «■ * •** 



W Die h is always simple, usually takes an annular €**„ * 



«U towards the base of the hair; those ofT! f^*"™ '—» 



' inose ot H - strepens have the fibre disposed 



