408 Prof. G. Gulliver on Raphides and other Crystals. 
raphides as natural characters, another of those interesting 
questions which can only be settled by further observations. 
Musacee.—Bit of midrib and blade of leaf of Musa teztilis, 
from My. Baxter: raphides scanty; but abundance of minute 
crystals, like those of Citrus (‘Annals,’ April last, p. 294), be- 
sides some hexagonal forms. Heliconia aurantiaca (leaf from 
Mr. Moore) : petiole and blade with swarms of raphis-cells. 
Tridacee and Liliacee.—Such fine examples of crystal prisms, 
about =!,th of an inch long and = nd thick, are afforded by 
the officinal Orris-root (Iris Florentina), and of raphides, about 
ith of an ineh long and +,/;>th thick, by the officinal Squill, 
that the difference between these crystals may be examined at 
any time. ‘There are also in the Squill numerous smaller ra- 
phides; and in the fresh bulb the raphides may be seen es- 
caping from the rounded ends of the soft, ropy and mucus-like 
cells. I have before noticed the raphides in the leaves of Ruscus. 
Though always rather scanty, they are constant; and many 
bundles of them occur regularly in the perianth. The remark- 
able scarcity of raphides in our native shrubs and trees gives an 
interest to this little British shrub as a raphis-bearer. Raphides 
abound in the twigs and leaves of R. Hypoglossum from Mr. 
Sowerby. 
Burmanniacee and Hemodoracee.—Dried leaves, from Mr. 
Baxter, of Burmannia, sp., and Anigozanthus, sp.: raphides not 
found in the first, but abundantly in the last, and often in 
bundles. 
Amaryllidacee—A good example of the constancy of the raphis- 
bearing character is afforded by Narcissus pseudo-Narcissus, as 
I have found after many examinations, during different months 
and years, of wild plants in Derbyshire, Middlesex, Essex, Kent, 
Ireland and Scotland. Though the raphides are so abundant 
in its leaves, scape, and ovary-coat, they are not remarkable in — 
the ovules. It is curious to observe the difference between the _ 
bulb-scales either of this plant or Endymion nutans and of some — 
Allieze and Colchicaceze: bundles of raphides in the first two, 
short prisms in the third, and no crystals in the last. : 
Hypoxidacee.—Bundles of raphides numerous in a dried leaf 
of Hypowis, sp., from Mr. Baxter. 
Broméliacee.—Leaf of Bonapartea juncea: a profusion of — 
bundles of raphides, and of single, larger, four-sided prisms, — 
flattened at the ends like a mason’s chisel. Leaves, from Mr. 
Baxter, of Ananassa sativa, Atchmea discolor, Dyckia rariflora, — 
Tillandsia acaulis, T. zebrina, and T. sp.: all abounding im 
raphides, which are also numerous in the stamens and perianth 
of an immature flower of this last species. y 
Pontederiacea.—Bit of dry leat-stalk of Pontederia azurea 
