44 WENHAM, ON THE SAP-CIRCULATION OF PLANTS. 



tliis way merely modifies and does not alter the results, and 

 sufficient has been said in the former papers to show that the 

 beauty of each image is much enhanced by the process. But 

 I am not unmindful that, however interesting the results of 

 these simple experiments with mere transmitted light may be 

 to myself, it would be encroaching on the pages of the ' Micro- 

 scopical Journal' to enter more into detail on this part of my 

 subject. Neither does it appear desirable to attempt to give 

 an air of impoi"tance to a set of phenomena which, saving that 

 they constitute legitimate illustralions of the subject in hand, 

 have at present scarcely more than their novelty and beauty 

 to recommend them. 



Notes and Observations on the Sap-Circulation of Plants. 

 By F. H. Wenham. 



Since my communication in the last number of this Journal, 

 " On the Circulation of the Sap in the Leaf-cells of the 

 Anacharis Ahinastmm^^ 1 have continued some investigations 

 on non-aquatic plants, with the view of ascertaining the 

 relation or analogy, tliat the phenomena of their circulatory 

 movements display, towards the subject of my former paper, 

 and to each other respectively, 



I must, however, remark in the first place, that the ex- 

 amples have been examined in a very random manner, for I 

 take up the microscope at uncertain periods, merely as a 

 means of recreation, and make no pretensions to that order 

 and system, which alone would allow the efforts of my pen, to 

 find a place with those of a scientific and professed botanist. 

 1 am merely desirous of recording some facts which I believe 

 have not before been noticed. 



The movements of circulation are best seen in the hairs of 

 plants, as the transparency and uniformity of their substance 

 allows their internal mechanism to be very readily distin- 

 guished. I had commenced a list of the most remarkable, and 

 after extending the catalogue to upwards of one hundred, I 

 concluded that the difficulty was to find the exceptions, for 

 hairs taken alike from the loftiest Ehn of the forest, down to 

 the humblest weed that we trample beneath our feet, plainly 

 exhibit their circulation. Even hairs from the upper surface 

 of a blade of common Couch Grass {Afjropynim repens) display 

 the sap-movement with singular beauty and distinctness, 

 considering the minuteness of the object ; (the intermediate 

 diameter being less than 1-lOOOth of an inch). The particles 



