172 



nor could tliey be sbakeu off; while a lens, on examination, plainly shotved very mi- 

 nute hair-like fibres or suckers proceeding from the fleshy tubers of the young Mono- 

 tropa, and binding it down to the paper. Unfortunately, one of these fixed plants 

 (which thus appear at least curiously to have simulated a parasitical growth) was trod- 

 den upon through an accidental fall of the paper, but the other remains affixed as at 

 first ; and I hope to induce some friend, more skilful at microscopical dissection than 

 I profess to be, to examine it. What I find remarkable, and I write from careful re- 

 iterated observation on specimens collected by myself, is the diversity in the size of 

 the clustered roots, from old ones possessing numerous rudimentary stems, to small 

 tuberous knobs where the buds are scarcely disceruable with the naked eye. In these 

 last, more especially, I find the fleshy tubers closely applied to and even twisted round 

 the beech-roots, so that I cannot separate them without violence, even after having 

 possessed them above four months. In a specimen now before me, after immersion in 

 water, a beech-root just at its entrance among the clustered radicles of the Mouotro- 

 pa, is obviously thickened, and covered by them in an imbricated manner, just as if 

 melted glue had been laid on with a brush. The subject is of course, as I have my- 

 self intimated, open to further elucidation, and I have only had the opportunity of the 

 inspection, carefully made, however, which I have already recorded, (Phytol, 98). Yet 

 though opinions may differ as to the real nature of the attachment of Monotropa to 

 the roots among which it is found nestled, I should think that botanist rash who, in 

 the present state of the enquiry, and without having watched the plant from its first 

 germination, should absolutely affirm that it is not parasitical. I may here state that 

 all my mature flowering specimens of Monotropa, as well as the young plants, are 

 perfectly erect, and in only one instance can I perceive the slightest indication of a 

 bend at the summit of the stem. As Mr. Wilson is at issue with me as to the scent 

 given out by the plant, and " counts noses " against me, it is but fair to hear my evi- 

 dence as to the odorous influence exercised by Monotropa upon the olfactory nerves 

 in Worcestershire. Without mentioning my own impression, I presented three ma- 

 ture plants in seed, which were gathered in September last, to a lady, and requested 

 her this morning to smell them. She had no sooner done so than she instantly ex- 

 claimed — ^'■Beautiful ! just like the Mezereon ! " This, be it remembered, is after the 

 lapse of nearly five months; but when I had about fifty fresh plants together, the fra- 

 grance proceeding from them was so powerful as to scent the room they were in for 

 weeks, and was instantly perceptible on opening the door. As I have stated, the im- 

 pression of the fragrance on my senses assimilated to that of primroses, although of 

 course much more powerful ; assuredly " a raw potato " is the last and lowest simile 

 that would have occuned to me as a comparison of its odour. — Edwin Lees ; Malvern 

 Wells, February 8, 1842. 



120. List of Alges from Guernsey. We know so very little of the marine Botany 

 of the Channel Islands, that I am induced to send you the following veiy imperfect 

 list of Algae for insertion in ' The Phytologist.' The collection from which I prepared 

 it, was made in Guernsey last summer, by Mr. D. Ross of Lasswade, who, not being 

 an algologist, merely took such species as came in his way. This will account for the 

 absence from the list of various common plants, as well as of a large number of spe- 

 cies which have such a general resemblance to each other as to cause them to be passed 

 over by individuals unacquainted with their forms. — R. K. Greville ; Edinburgh, Fe- 

 bruary 10, 1842. 



