308 COMPOSITE ORGANS. CH4P. II. 



cation is to be seen. What appear to be ducts or 

 vessels as described by Saussure and Hedwig are, 

 in the opinion of Mr. Bauer, nothing more than 

 the edges of * the dissepiments of the cells of the 

 cuticle. * 



Such then is the result of the observations of 

 the most distinguished botanical anatomists, who 

 have directed their attention to the general struc- 

 ture of the epidermis. Their descriptions do not 

 indeed tally quite so completely as could be 

 wished : but an exact coincidence was not to be 

 expected in the description of an organ that differs 

 so much in different species of plants, and even in 

 different parts of the same plant ; unless the ob- 

 servations of each investigator had been confined to 

 the same species, and to the same part. And even 

 then the coincidence would have been but partial, 

 as being affected by the age of the plant, or season 

 of observation. 



But it is to be remarked that the first four of the 

 preceding accounts agree in all the leading points 

 of description as far as they go; namely, in re- 

 presenting the epidermis as composed of a net- 

 work of fibres consisting of two or more layers, 

 and the meshes in being filled up with a fine pel- 

 licle, in which there is often discoverable a peculiar 

 area connected with the general net- work, by 

 means of lateral ducts or fibres ; and exhibiting 

 in the centre the appearance of minute glands, or 

 * Tracts relative to Botany, London, 1805. 



