98 



ON THE SITUATION OF RAPHIDES. 



[April, 



one of the cells themselves contains any trace of raphides, the 

 latter being entirely confined to the intercellular passages. I 



kept the stem of the Myrio- 

 ^. ^^ phyllum in water until it be- 

 ^^ came quite decayed, and I 



^^^ observed that as the stem 

 rotted, the number of ra- 

 phides increased enormously. 

 What the connection may be 

 between the progress of de- 

 cay and the increase of the 

 number of these bodies, I am 

 unable to suggest, and can 

 only record the fact. The 

 large figure represents a seg- 

 ment of a transverse section of the Myriophyllum stem mag- 

 nified 50 diameters, and the small represent some detached 

 raphides magnified 320 diameters. I may add, that in examin- 

 ing raphides, or in searching for them in the tissues of plants,, 

 polarized light may be advantageously employed. If any readers 

 of the ' Phytologist' should wish for more information as to ra- 

 phides, they should consult Mr. Quekett's ' Lectures on Histo- 

 logy' above referred to ; and with regard to cystoliths there is a 

 very interesting paper by M. Weddell, accompanied by figures, 

 in the fourth series of the ' Annales des Sciences Naturelles/ 

 vol. ii. p. 267. F. C. 



SORB-TEEE. 

 Pyrus domestica. By John Lloyd. 



In the ^ Phytologist' for June, 1856, I offered some observa- 

 tions on the Sorb -tree of Wyre Forest, and founded my objec- 

 tions to its introduction upon the assumption that no one could 

 have had an adequate motive for taking so much trouble. 



In the ' Phytologist' for December, 1858, is an extract from 

 the ' Worcestersliire Journal,' giving an account of a meeting of 

 the Worcestershire Naturalists' Field-Club, held under the said 

 old tree, where Mr. Edwin Lees gave a sketch of its history, and, 

 amongst other things, asserted that for centuries it had been re- 



