1906] SPALDING—ABSORPTION OF WATER BY LEAVES 275 
subaerial absorption after protracted drouth, but more limited 
capacity for such absorption, even if artificial drying is resorted 
to, when it is receiving a better supply of water. 
Lycium Berlandieri. 
At the time when the observations on Lycium were made, late 
in December, most of the summer leaves had fallen and fresh ones, 
following recent light rains, were only beginning to appear. Con- 
sequently it was difficult to secure entirely satisfactory material, 
but a few specimens were finally obtained for experiment which 
were in a normal and active condition. The leaves of this species 
are small, only about one centimeter in length, but otherwise the 
plant gives the impression, as already stated, of having retained 
up to the. present time distinctively mesophytic tendencies. The 
rapidity with which the leaves were transpiring was at once obvious 
when weighing was undertaken, and, as in cases previously cited, 
absorption was found to take place extremely slowly while the leaves 
were still fresh. Even after drying, water was absorbed in no case 
as rapidly as it had been lost. Thus number 2 lost 3 per cent. of 
its weight by drying three and one-half hours, and gained after- 
wards by wetting nearly four hours 1.9 per cent. Of the actual 
capacity of this species for subaerial absorption the experiments 
leave no room for doubt; but the.specimens employed deported 
themselves much like the well-watered Covillea, except that no 
suggestion of pathological change in the course of the treatment 
to which they were subjected was noted. When gathered they 
were simply in the condition of fresh, actively transpiring plants, 
TABLE IX. 
Lycrum BERLANDIERI. December 1904. 
No.| Date Time Iyer ge sl i Period of treatment 
1 | Dec. 28 | 10:15 A.M. | 3.065 
1:47 P.M. | 3.076 | 0.4 gain After ee aes? nearly 3 3 32 min. 
AQ: NOTE E Ac M+[ 32235. |-5 22” paris 20 hrs. 28 m 
1:42 P.M. | 2.956 | 8.7loss | ‘“‘ drying 3 hrs ‘ 
3:25 3-002 | 1.6gain; “ wetting cue I ae 43 min. 
2 28:).107 92 A: Mi. | si ¥a9 
E°G0 POM. |-3.028 | 370 loss After drying 3 hrs. * min. 
29: | 10:00 A,M. | 2.602 |. 7-5 ° 
1:53 P.M. | 2.855 | 1.9 gain “wetting nearly : re 53 min. 
