SECT. I. THE EPIDERMIS. 30Q 



pores, or inflated points; with which account, if 

 Mr. Bauer's description does not agree., it can only 

 be because the specimens he examined were actually 

 different in their structure ; as his accuracy of ob- 

 servation, and skill in botanical drawing, are too 

 well known to stand in need of any comment. It 

 must be admitted, however, that the epidermis of 

 the majority of plants is much better described by 

 the net-work of Saussure and Hedwig, than by the 

 cells of Mr. Bauer ; and that the fibres forming, 

 the meshes seem to be something more than mere 

 dissepiments. 



The above remark does not however lessen the 

 value of the observations of Mr. Bauer ; as it is 

 often as important to know the exception as the 

 rule itself. And it is likely that farther inquiries 

 will produce farther exceptions. The epidermis of 

 the petals of the Snow-drop, Galanthus nivalis, 

 coincides pretty nearly in appearance with that of 

 Doryanthes and Hcemanthus, exhibiting what may 

 be aptly enough compared to an assemblage of 

 hexagonal cells ; if not rather to the clusters of 

 bubbles generated upon the surface of liquors in a 

 state of fermentation, according to a similitude of 

 Grew's upon a different subject. 



But the epidermis 7 seems to me to present, in Its aspect 



i . , in crocus 



some cases, an appearance to which no one of the V ernus. 

 foregoing descriptions or similitudes will correctly 

 apply ; and to exhibit a peculiarity of structure 

 that does not appear to have been hitherto taken 

 1 



