54 YELLOW GOAT's-BEARD. 



and tliat often before the sun declines from 

 the meridian, may be ascribed to the agency 

 of the spiral fibres. They appear like fine 

 cork-screw threads of a firmer texture than 

 the adjacent parts, and are readily distin- 

 guished when the stems or leaf-stalks, in 

 which they are enclosed, are carefully drawn 

 asunder. In some minute specimens, they 

 are, however, scarcely separable, and they 

 generally become firm and rigid, when their 

 ministry is no longer needed. By means 

 of these, all the indications of vegetable 

 life are invariably produced ; flowers open 

 in the morning and close at night; leaves 

 turn to the air and light, and creeping 

 plants wind in their respective order ; such 

 too, as the yellow goat's-beard which ex- 

 pand or close their petals at fixed periods, 

 owe this remarkable deviation from the 

 general habits of their kind, to the same 

 beautiful arrangement : heat and a strong 



