Anatomy of the Vine. 131 



closing over them. These vessels separate as the others have 

 done, uniting in like manner with those on each side ; the one 

 on the right hand joins the band p, the other on the left side 

 joins a band from the opposite side of the stalk. Although 

 the spiral and ascending sap vessels of the band o are only 

 represented in the figure, yet they have been covered with 

 the liber and vascular texture from e upwards to the top at o. 

 The number of bands, as I have called them, by the subdivi- 

 sions of the vessels of the six claws are generally from four- 

 teen to eighteen. At the base of the stalk of the leaf, they 

 unite or inosculate one with the other the whole way round, as 

 may be easily conceived from those represented injig. 23. 



The various vessels of these bands, which have arisen from 

 the six divisions, proceeded from very opposite directions of 

 the collet; yet the whole of them, except the concentric 

 layer, are now collected together, to form the stalk of the 

 leaf, where they are placed similarly to what they were origi- 

 nally in the collet. Let us compare them together, as we 

 have a drawing of each in Jig. 23. First, the medulla is in the 

 centre of both, round them are the divisions, but those of the 

 stalk of the six divisions are divided into sixteen bands or 

 parts, by which they possess sufficient strength to support the 

 broad leaf above them ; yet their spiral vessels are upon the 

 margin of the medulla ; next to them the ascending sap-ves- 

 sels, as those of the alburnum would be, if the concentric 

 layer did not exist in the collet ; round each are the vessels of 

 the liber, to which are attached the vascular texture ; the 

 cellular texture fills up the space between the bands, as it 

 does between the collets, and both are covered with the cellu- 

 lar texture and the cuticle. So that the most scrupulous 

 examiner must admit the correctness of the comparison, that 

 they are not only similar in their component parts, but also in 

 their situations. 



The vessels of these bands are extremely delicate during 



the summer, so much 

 so, that I should recom- 

 mend their being ex- 

 amined just before the 

 fall of the leaf, when 

 they are much firmer, 

 and somewhat more 

 distinct. Fig. 24., 



which represents a 

 band, may assist the 

 examination ; for a is 

 supposed to be the 

 k 2 



