14 having one of its leaves so fitted into the cavity upon the ground, 

 end standing over it, at my ovn height, I could not detect where 

 the leaf ended and the stone began, althougli blessed v.ith good 

 eyesight, so exactly did it match the stone in texture and colour. 

 This indicated to me hov; very easily this plant might be overlooked, 

 and upon mentioning this fact to T>t. ^urtt ^avy, he immediately 

 told me that on one occasion, in the area v^here this plant grovis, 

 he nassed a dried-up vley, and thinking thet there ought to be 

 some plant gro^/'ing in it, he got dov/n into the vley, but could not 

 see any •plants growing there. H^xvever, after sitting down for a 

 few minutes, he presently noticed something that seemed different 

 from the stones covering the ground, and upon examination, found it 

 to be a plant of T. calcarea, and then upon more closely examining 

 the place he found that there v.-ere hundreds of plants growing there, 

 although at first he had been unable to detect a single plant. 

 Fig. P, which is from a photograph kindly sent to me by Mr. T. N. 

 Leslie, will give some idea of the manner in which this plant simu- 

 lates its nrtural surroundings and illustrates Dr. Biirtt -^avy's 

 statement, 



'^. calcarea is easily cultivated if not ove v/atered, and I am 

 informed by Mr. T. N. Leslie that it ought to be quite hardy here 

 if keit dry in winter, as he stetes that it will v/ithstand tv/enty 

 degrees of frost v.ithout in;jury. 



"-The pustules or tubercles on the leafs of this plant are very 

 interesting structures and form very charming microscopical objects. 

 Each tubercle consists of a multitude of minute, slightly pointed 

 cells filled with some form of lims (probably oxalate) , whose white- 

 ness constrasts vlth the green colouration of the leaf in a very 

 effective manner, ".^hen this plant is cultivated in soil that does 

 not contain much limestone, the tips of the leeves assuiae a beautiful 

 rosy-purrle colour, and when such a leaf is examined under a binocular 

 microscope, the contrast of the white lime-cells with the rosy and 

 green tissue surrounding them make this an exceedingly beautiful 

 object. 



2, T, crassipes, I'^. S, 3r, — Habit of T. calcares. Leaves in 

 3-5 pairs to a growth, flat, spathulate, -|-1 inch long, 4-6 lines 

 broad at the dilates, transverse and somewhat fan-shaped apical part 

 which iv very brofdly rounded at the apex and rather abruptly con- 

 tracted into a cuneate petiole, the dilated part covered with 

 tubercles, that become more crowded along the apical margin, glab- 

 rous, rreyish-green v.dth the apical edge reddish. Flov;ers solitary, 

 subsessile. Calyx sub eoually 5-lobed, obconic and smooth below, 

 tuberculate on the lobes which are about 4-5 lines long and 2-3 

 lines broad, ovrite, obtuse. Coirolla 11-13 lines in diameter; petals 

 in one series, 4-5 lines long, -ii-l line broad, obtuse or sub-acute, 

 rose-pink, apparently paler at the base and paler on the back. 

 Stam.ens numerous, erect in a mass, 2 lines long; filaments bearded 

 at, the base, stated to be pink (incarnata) inthe latin description, 

 and white in the English one, but the anthers are figured as yellow. 

 Stigmas 10 in the tyrie specimen, 3 lines long and exceeding the sta- 

 mens, but are represented on the plat in the entire flowers as 5, and 

 much longer than the radiftel'^ spreading over the top of the stamens, 

 but in the dissection thej ere epresented as and erect, and are 

 described as "8-10 filiform" of the same length as the strmens 

 (" staminibus secuilonga") ; top of the ovary conical. Fruit unknov/n, 



Mesembryanthemum crassiprs, Ivlarloth, in Fi. ri. of 3. Afr, H, 



