THE RAPHIDES. llo 



lengthways, we observe longitudinal fibres, in which the 

 tracheae and annular vessels are very easily distinguished 

 from one another by the inequality of their diameter. 

 Between these fibres are found a green parenchyma, 

 composed of irregular oblong cellules, placed end to end, 

 and evidently separate from one another. They unite 

 towards the external parts of the veins, which are com- 

 posed of elongated and close cellules. The transverse 

 cellules, which, perhaps, are organs distinct from those 

 which compose the fibres, contain a green rough matter. 

 Among these transverse cellules we see kinds of opaque 

 spindles, placed in a longitudinal direction, and parallel 

 with the veins, pointed at the two extremities, and which 

 seem kinds of internal hairs. These are the filaments 

 wliich I call Raphides ; the bundles of them often 

 diverge under the eye of the observer, and then the 

 filaments of which they are composed can be distinctly 

 seen. It happens very frequently that in cutting the 

 leaf, the Raphides separate and float in the water in 

 which it is placed under the microscope. Wlien they 

 are thus seen isolated, (PI. 3, fig. 6,) they seem, under 

 very powerful microscopes, to be kinds of tubes pointed at 

 the two extremities ; they present two opaque lines 

 upon the borders, and the middle is transparent, as in 

 common hairs placed under the inicroscope. These 

 Raphides are of a stiff consistence ; we have never seen 

 them bent or curved — neither I, nor my son, nor the ob- 

 servers who were kind enough to assist us in this exami- 

 nation ; among them it will be sufficient to mention Dr. 

 Provost, to prove how accustomed they are to microscopic 

 researches. It has been impossible for us to form any 

 idea of the point of attachment, or of the origin of these 

 bundles, which seem to be produced upon the cellules. 

 The bundles of Raphides in Littcea and Crinum lati- 

 foliiim differ so little from those of Tritoma, either in 



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