Dr. A. Braun on the Vegetable Individual. 383 



arises from the axil of a leaf situated at the side of the base of 

 the tendril. The thorns of Ononis, Elceagnus and Madura^ 

 present the same ph?enomenon. In other cases the succession 

 of generation thns arrested by the aculeate shoot is restored by 

 secondary formations ; when, with the thorn, a second shoot 

 follows out of the axil, which in some cases may form a leaf- 

 shoot, and in others a flower-shoot. This happens in Gleditschia, 

 in several Acacice (e. g. A. pulchella), in Prinsepia iifi/isf, the 

 Lemon, the Egyptian Balanites, Duranta, BougainviUea and 

 Randia, in which the secondary shoot arises close under the 

 spine; while in Celastrus ptjracantJiusX and Europaus, as well 

 as Fisonia aculeata^, the secondary shoot occurs above the 

 thorn. In Uncaria pilosa\\ and Strgchnos spinosa, pairs of 

 leaves with axillary thorns alternate with pairs which have 

 peduncles in their axils. 



Have even these phsenomena of extreme alienation of the 

 individual (as they occur in the thorns and hardened shoots of 

 plants) analogous forms in the animal kingdom ? Yes, I believe 

 they have ! I believe I may assert that in the animal kingdom 

 itself there are individuals which occur as mere fixed claws, 

 pincers, scourges, tactile and predial filaments, &c. — individuals 

 which perform neither functions of nutrition nor of reproduction 

 in the society to which they belong, but which probably merely 

 assist in seizing the food, or lend a helping hand in defending 

 the community. The cases which I have here in mind are of 

 frequent occurrence among Bryozoa, and especially in the group 

 of Cellaria. Individuals in the form of horns (which usually 

 conclude the series of complete cell-inhabiting individuals) 

 occur, e.g. in Eucratea cornuta*^ and Cordierii^^^ ; in another 

 form (reminding us of Teloxijs), as forked terminal spines, in 

 Vesicularia spinosa-\-f. Moveable individuals, representing mere 

 weapons, in form like a bird's beak, a crab's claw, or a pincers, 

 appear in Acamarchis aviculariaXX ^^^ jlustroides^^, Retepora 

 cellulosa, Scrupocellai-ia scruposa\\ \\ and many others. In the last- 



* Here belongs also the curious hook of Uncinia, which is also visible, 

 though less developed, in many species of Carex. The utriculus is a leaf 

 at the base of this spine. 



t Royle, Illustr. of the Bot. of Himal. pi. 38. fig. 1. 



X Boissier, Voy. bot. en Espagne, t. 38. 



§ Rheede, Hort. Malab. vii. t. 17- 



II Wallich, Plant. As. Rar. t. 170. 



1[ Ellis, op. cit. pi. 21. f. 10 [Cellaria cornuta); M.-Edw., Ann. d. Sc. 

 Nat. (1838) t. 8. f. 2 {Crisidia cornuta). 



** Descrip. de 1 Egypte, Polyi)es, t. 13. f. 3. 



tt ^an Beneden, Rech. sur les Bryozoaires, t. 4. f. c. 



XX Van Beneden, I.e. t. 6. f. \-S{Cellularia aviculariu, Pall. Crista avicu- 

 laria, Larax.). §§ Ellis, op. cit. pi. 38. f. 7- 



nil Van Beneden, I. c. t. 5. f. 8-lG (Cellaria scruposa, Auct.). 



