60 ~ Mr. Gardner on the Origin of the 
able to trace their course with great ease. I found that after 
entering the stem they made a gentle curve downwards and 
mwards till they reached nearly the centre of the column ; 
then, changing their direction, they turned downwards and 
outwards, with a greater degree of obliquity than before, till 
they reached within a little of the external surface of the stem, 
after which they continued to descend in a line parallel with 
its axis, ultimately becoming so much ramified that I was un- 
able to trace them. The chord of the arc, or the distance from 
the place where the fibres entered the stem, to the point where 
they finished their curve, was 2} feet. I was not only able to 
trace the fibres as above described, but could also trace them 
from the interior of the stem for a considerable distance up 
into the substance of the leaf itself. 
Longitudinal sections of the stems and leaves of the cab- 
bage-palm (Euterpe edulis, Mart.), of a very tall species, called 
by the Brazilians Pati, and of a small one which they call 
Oricana, all exhibited precisely the same structure, the length 
of the curve of the fibres only differing according to the thick- 
ness of the stems of the different individuals and the distance 
between the insertion of the leaves. 
The stems of all the species split with difficulty, owing to 
the great mesh-work of interlaced fibres. 
Having thus shown that the views of Mohl regarding the 
origin and direction of the woody fibre of the stems of palms 
are quite in accordance with what J have myself observed, I 
shall now make a few remarks on the objections, or rather 
doubts, which Dr. Lindley has expressed concerning them. 
In the first place, he says, “if Mohl’s view of the structure of 
endogens be correct, they must after a time lose the power of 
growing in consequence of the whole of the lower part of their 
stems being choked up by the multitude of descending woody 
bundles. Is this the case?” In none of the oldest palm-trees 
which I have seen cut down did it seem that this would ever 
be the case, the stem always exhibiting a like thickness of ex- 
ternal hard, and internal soft portions, from the root to a 
height of many feet; and that this ought to be the case, is ob- 
vious from their structure. As the bundles of woody fibre 
originate from the leaves, and as they are placed the one above 
the other on the stem, it follows that the fibres of the upper 
leaves will not descend so far as those of the lower, and that, 
consequently, as the stem increases in height so will the den- 
sity of its sides increase upwards also. In the second place, 
he says, “the lower part of their bark, too, must be much 
harder, that is, much more filled with woody bundles than the 
upper. Is that the fact?” Every one who has been in the 
