80 vrould no-" so, " ■: tec\ in" 



rcise 



Its ne--- "* le; _ ^ soil. - _ : _iov/ever, 



^' " '' ^ " from cbove, inst'^^ ^ of fro;,, "belo^.' , quickly rotted, 



^ i:a- ':'.o plants of L. Leslie! olsc that vere planted 

 'r toT><' level vrith the -ground . 'Hii caused me to be- 

 lieve thr-t it is not the intensity of the light that injures the 

 chlororhvll and causes the pl&nt to bury itself, but the necessity 

 of T-^reventin'" the loss of water stored up in the leeves during 

 th^ long periods of drought and greet heat these plants have to 

 endure. ?or, in the first pl?ce, vje have the fact that there are 

 jjiopv sT^ecies O"^ ^'esembrysntheniur., -^ he species of G-lottiphyllum., 

 some of '^■ibbae' ". Conophyti; , '., that have green leaves or 

 fror.'ths th?t rre not ct all glaucous and are fully exposed to the 

 inteT^e "'■!~''^-^ -^nd unh8rrri.ed b^'" it, while in Lithops itself the 

 la^' "issure ia fu'' i." exposed, and in the tropics, the 



leaves o' "ress, etc. are slso fully exposed to the light uninjured. 

 In the second place, although bein^ buried in the ground in their 

 dry native country would rrotect theri from too much transpiration, 

 on'^'. to F certain extent the surrounding soil might even absorb and 



r^t^^in some of the moisture evarorsted by the plant, v;hich may 

 possibly be re-absorbed by it a^rain during the cool of the night, 

 37-et in the huriid atmosphere of this countr3^, except during the 

 hottest su.mmer --eather, these -l:-nts evidently find it difficult 

 to trpnsi;^ire suff icientl:' ried in the soil, and hasten to 

 -et out of such stiflinr qucrLors. And in several instances I have 

 "f*ound that in other stemless gener& vrhose leaves are in contact 

 with the soil, if watered (but not over-watered) from above when 

 the atraosi^here is rather humid, those leaves will occasionally 

 rot v'here in contact with the damp earth. ?rom these factors I 

 have, therefore, corr.e to the conclusion that it is for the conser- 

 vation of water, and not to escape from the light, that these 

 plrnts bury themselves in the trround and use the top of their 

 leaves as a window. 



Lithops ^berlanzii, -'. S. Er.— Growths 2/S-li- inch hig-h, 

 6-16 lines broad, obconic, more or less circular or lunate in out- 

 line, an'^ flpttish or very sli,ehtly convex at the top, with a trans- 

 verse fissure 3|--5 .lines deep, of a pearl-grey-ochreous or pearl- 

 grey, violaceous colour, marked with branched lines, ^lov/ers 

 unkno^'^n. Capsule about 4-J lines in diameter, 5-cell. 



I'^esembrypnthemiMi "^berlanzii, Winter in *edde ^^epert. , --eihefte, 

 vol. XXTII, p. 43 (1923), and Dinter and Schwantes in ^^eitschr. f. 

 Sukk, vol. II, n. "'5 (l-ferch 19S5). 



^^reat NamaqualandJ On ^uck'^^us-Iokenbank Flats, Dinter, and on 

 I'ovis 'fountains, Sberlanz. 



N. S. Bpovm 

 (To be continued.) 



1v:E3S.!BRYAJMTIISIv1II,! . 

 Gard, Ghron. HI. 79 : 102. 1926. 

 (Continued from page 80 ). 



LITHOrS. 



102 L. Frsncisci, N.E.Br;— Grov/ths 9-18 lines high, 6-14 lines 



I bro?d, and 4-9 lines thick, obconic, flat and elliptic in outline 

 at the top, with a transverse fissure 3-7 lines deep; surft ce smo- 

 oth, glabrous, pale-greyish -v;hite or dirty ivory-white, covered 



