250 



CONSERVATIVE ORGANS. [LECT. VI. 



these root-like 

 appendages in- 

 sert themselves 

 into the cre- 

 vices of the 

 wall or rock, 

 on the face of 

 which the plant 

 climbs ; but, 

 in some in- 

 stances, they 

 operate like 

 the feet of flies, 

 and of those 

 lizards that 

 have the power 



of running up smooth perpendicular walls 

 and along the ceilings of rooms ; or rather 

 like the suckers which boys employ for lifting 

 stones, and which adhere, by the closeness 

 of their application preventing any air from 

 being interposed between them and the spot 

 on which they are applied. Some Botanists 

 imagine that these caulinary radicles differ ma- 

 terially from the roots thrown out by the stems 

 of creeping plants ; and that they do not im- 

 bibe nourishment * ; but in my opinion the 



* Such is the opinion of Sir J. E. Smith (see Introd. to 



