OF JOHN EDDOWES BOWMAN, ESQ. 63 
till it meets the roots of the tree, from which it 
is to derive its nourishment, when it sends out 
its fibres horizontally in every direction, and 
fastens itself by the tubercles in which they ter- 
minate, on the roots and fibres of the tree. The 
internal structure of these tubercles, so minute 
that they had escaped the notice of preceding 
botanists, he explored by the aid of the micros- 
cope, and then traced the course of their fibres 
to the point of insertion between the imbricated 
scales on the stem of the parasite, from which it 
takes its name. These scaly appendages to the 
subterranean stem of the Lathreea he showed 
were not roots, for which they had been mistaken, 
but ¢rwe leaves, since the cells imbedded in their 
succulent substance, to which he also applied the 
microscope, indicated by their structure, that they 
were adapted to absorb air rather than extract 
moisture. ‘The absence of green in these leaves 
he explained by their performing the office of 
absorbents under ground. 
At the meeting of the British Association, at 
Bristol, he read a very interesting paper, which 
was afterwards enlarged, and inserted in Loudon’s 
Magazine of Natural History,—“ On the longe- 
vity of the Yew, as ascertained from actual sec- 
