446 Prof. G. Gulliver on Raphides and Sphceraphides. 



dently been killed by a blow on the forehead, that had broken 

 the skull. This circumstance shows that the bones of the Red 

 Deer, Pig, &c., belong to the human, and probably historical, 

 period, to which also, I believe, in common with Irish antiqua- 

 rians, the remains of the Cervus megaceros belong. 



XL VI I. — Observations on Raphides and Sphceraphides. 

 By George Gulliver, P.R.S. 



[Continued from p. 367-] 



Balsaminacece. — We have already incidentally mentioned this 

 as a raphis-bearing order (x\nnals, Sept. 1863), and will now 

 compare it with its relations. In our Flora they stand thus : — 



Linacese. t. Oxalidacese. 



^ . iSALSAMINACE^. r^ ^ ^ ^ 



(jreraniacese. Oelastratese. 



And Balsaminacese is not more plainly isolated and distinguished 

 here in print than in the type of nature as a raphidiferous order. 

 All the plants belonging to it which I have examined (to wit, 

 Impatiens glandulifera, two other exotic species, and numerous 

 varieties of the common greenhouse Balsam) abound in raphides, 

 while the other orders, allies of Balsaminacese, are not so cha- 

 racterized. 



But these other orders afford, in the leaves and other parts, 

 sphseraphides instead, and sometimes so beautifully in the form 

 of sphseraphid-tissue as to exhibit a better example of it than 

 that depicted in Lythrum salicaria (Annals, Sept. 1863). In the 

 sepals of Geranium striatum and G. sanguineum, for instance, this 

 is very remarkable — a tissue of cells, each cell containing a 

 distinct nucleus of sphseraphides. Doubtless John Quekett saw 

 the same thing as an isolated fact in this genus (Lindley'sElem. 

 Bot. 1849, p. 17). The leaves and other parts of Oxalidacese 

 abound in sphseraphides, like those of Polygonacese. 



How completely such functions of plant-life are dependent on 

 the species itself, rather than either on the soil, food, or situation, 

 is as well shown by these examples as by those formerly described 

 in Onagracese and Lythracese, and in the different species of 

 Lemna. The two Geraniums above-named and Balsams have 

 been growing close together in my garden, and yet each plant 

 always afforded its peculiar crystals — constantly sphseraphides in 

 the first- and as constantly raphides in the last-named plants. 



In short, this is not merely an incidental or artificial distinc- 

 tion, but a regular and natural difference — by no means a trivial 

 or minor fact, but a central and comprehensive phenomenon. 



