46 VAlilETIES OF DATE-PALM. 



grown on we see a stripe-like tissue. Here we see plainly that 

 new vessels had formed to effect the junction, and these were, in 

 the first instance, short-jointed porous vessels ; then on the left 

 longer so called scalarif'orm vessels ; and lastly, farther to the left, 

 wood-cells, or, as I have above called them, cell-vessels. The 

 connecting vessels, therefore, formed rapidly in a perfectly suc- 

 culent stem, and effected the connection immediately, whilst in 

 hard wood it had been effected through the medium of newly- 

 formed cellular tissue or parenchyma. We see therefore that it 

 is tlie offic'e chiefly of those parts which we call vessels to continue 

 or to transmit the vital action of plants. In grafting also this 

 action is only fully developed when the connection between the 

 stock and the scion is fully established by means of vessels. 



In general, we see in the whole organised kingdom a creative 

 force, which in the vegetable kingdom acts in the first place and 

 essentially symmetrically, and after that, in conformity to special 

 purposes. 



V. — A Note concerning the Varieties of Date-Palm. In a 

 letter from Mr. James Richardson. Communicated by Vis- 

 count Palmerston. 



(Received July 31, 1850.) 



Mourzuk, May 14, 1850. 

 My Lord, — The great resource of the inhabitants of the 

 Oases of the Sahara is the Date-Palm. When every other species 

 of food fails, the Date-Palm yields with the returning year its 

 nourishing and powerful fruit, and saves the population of the 

 Desert from perisliing with hunger. 



Nineteen-tvventieths of the population of Fezzan live on dates 

 during nine months of the year. Many of the animals likewise 

 feed on dates the greater part of the year, the Oases being bare 

 of herbage. 



It is, therefore, very useful, as well as interesting, to give 

 some account of the various species of this fruit. I have collected 

 from the mouths of the natives of Fezzan the Arabic names of 

 upwards of fifty different species of this precious fruit, cultivated 

 in these Oases, with a brief description of the qualities of each of 

 them. 



I have the honour to be, &c. 

 (Signed) James Richardson. 



To Viscount Palmerston, G.C.B., 

 &c. &c. &c. 



