SECT. I. THE EPIDERMIS. 313 



consisting of more than one layer, the degree of 

 transparency is less, and the net-work confused and 

 indistinct ; because the epidermis is now thicker, 

 and because the meshes of the several layers do not 

 exactly coincide. The same thing may be exempli- 

 fied in the epidermis of the Apple, of which the 

 layers are two in number ; the exterior layer being 

 thin and transparent, and the interior layer being 

 more succulent and tender, and tinged with a pecu- 

 liar shade giving colour to the fruit, 



But still the ultimate and unorganized pellicle 

 of Saussure remains undetected, of the existence of 

 which I have never yet been able to satisfy myself 

 thoroughly. I have observed, indeed, though very 

 rarely, in the epidermis of the leaf of the Honey- 

 suckle Lonicera Periclymenum, a small portion of 

 external pellicle of greater extent than the area of 

 the meshes, in which no vestige of meshes was to 

 be found, and which seemed, like Saussure's outer 

 pellicle or true epidermis, to be totally destitute of 

 organization. But whether this is to be regarded as 

 a sufficient proof of an exterior pellicle distinct 

 from the meshes, or whether the meshes whose area 

 it had originally filled up might not have been ob- 

 literated merely from accident, seems to be some- 

 what doubtful. The appearance would have been 

 the same in either case ; so that unless the pellicle 

 and network could be detached to some considerable 

 extent, and exhibited separately, the proof must 

 still be regarded as incomplete. Hedvvig, whose 



