COTTON BALES IN THE BRAZILS. 331 



As a general rule, the woody matter is developed unequally round 

 the central pith in the form of irregular lobes, the bark closely follow- 

 ing all the sinuosities of the stem. If the lobes increase on one side of 

 the stem only, the pith soon becomes eccentric ; but, on the other 

 hand, in many species, while the pith retains its central position, the 

 irregular growth of the woody lobes — each of which is closely invested by 

 the bark — causes some to grow beyond their neighbours, and these 

 latter, in the progress of growth, become imbedded, with their bark, 

 in the midst of the woody matter produced by the more vigorous lobes. 

 Such stems, therefore, present the greatest irregidarity of form, particu- 

 larly in the genera Bauisterla and Heteropterys. 



Sajnndacere .—In this Order we meet with some wonderfully aber- 

 rant forms of stems, but I shall here notice only two which are met 

 with on cotton bales. 



One of these is most probably the Serjaiiin cnsj)idata, figured by 

 Duchartre (' Elements,' etc., f. 82. p. 170) and Schleiden (' Principles,' 

 f. 168. p. 253), and easily recognized by its triangular form and com- 

 pound character. It consists of a primitive stem not specially notice- 

 able for any divergence from the usual dicotyledonous type ; but round 

 this stem are arranged three other lateral ones, each of which has its 

 own bark separate from the rest, but united to the bark of the primi- 

 tive central stem. These lateral portions are circular in outline, save 

 that they are flat on the side by which they are attached to the central 

 stem, which latter is in consequence hexagonal. The attachment of 

 the lateral portions to the central mass is not very firm, as most of the 

 ropes of this species reach this country with their strands separated, in 

 consequence of the rough usage to which they have been subject in 

 packing ; but Gaudicliaud points out that in certain parts of the stem 

 — most likely at the nodes, for he is not very clear upon the point — 

 the lateral strands have an organic attachment to some of the woody 

 fibres of the central mass being continued in one of the lateral strands, 

 and vice verad (' llechcrches,' pi. xiii. f. 2 and 3. p. 110). 



A still more remarkable example supplied by this family in the form 

 of a natural rope, is one which might have served our telegraph 

 engineers as the model of a submarine cable. Like the Serjanin, there 

 is a central woody mass possessing a medullary sheath and pith, woody 

 layers, and a cortical system ; but surrounding this and arranged 

 parallel with it is a scries of eight lateral stramls each suiToundcd 



