30 



THE EDINBURGH JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY, 



the company were stretched out to save him fi-om faUing; and just as their hands ap- 

 proached his feathers, suddenly recovering, and dropping as much on the other. At 

 length sleep seemed to fix him in a steady posture ; whereupon the owner took him 

 from his finger, and laid him flat on the table, where the man assured us he would re- 

 main in a good sound sleep, while he himself had the honour to do his best to fill up 

 the interval. Accordingly, after drinking a glass of wine (in the progress of which 

 he was interrupted by the Canary Bird springing suddenly up to assert his right to a 

 share, really putting his little bill mto the glass, and then laying himself down to sleep 

 again), the owner called him a saucy fellow, and began to show off his own indepen- 

 dent powers of entertainment, when a huge black cat, who had long been on the 

 watch, sprang unobserved, from a corner, upon the table, seized the poor Canary in 

 its mouth, and rushed out of the window in spite of opposition. And though the 

 room was deserted in an instant, it was a vain pursuit; the life of the poor bird was 

 gone; and its mangled body was brought in by the unfortunate owner, under such 

 dismay, and accompanied by such looks and language, as would have awakened pity in 

 a misanthrope. 



A>'ECDOTE OF A Raven. — At the seat of the Earl of Aylesbury, in "Wiltshire, a 

 tame Raven, that had been taught to speak, used to ramble about in the park ; there 

 he was commonly attended and beset by crows, rooks, and others of his inquisitive 

 tribe. When a considerable number of these were collected around him, he would 

 lift up his head, and with a hoai*se and hollow voice shout out the word Hoila ! This 

 would instantly put to flight and disperse his sable brethren, while the Raven seemed 

 to enjoy the fright he had occasioned. 



Curious Mechanism in the Feet of the Fi-y and Lacerta Gecko. — It is 

 well known that the house-fly is capable of walking upon the ceiling of rooms, in 

 which situation its body is not supported on the legs. The principle upon which it 

 does so remained for a long time unexplained, because the animal is too smnll for the 

 feet to be anatomically examined. Animals of a much larger size arc endowed with 

 the same power. The Laccrta Gecko, a native of the Island of Java, is in the habit 

 of coming out of an evening from the roofs of the houses, and walking down the 

 smooth, hard, polished chunam walls in search of flics that settle upon them, and then 

 of running up again. Sir Joseph Banks, while at Batavia, used to catch this animal 

 by standing close to the wall with a long flattened pole, which being made suddenly 

 to scrape the surface, knocked it down. Sir Everard Home procured a specimen of 

 a very large size, which enabled him to ascertain the peculiar mechanism by which 

 the feet of this animal keep their hold of a smooth hard perpendicular wall, and carry 

 up so large a weight as that of its own body. He found that the foot of this lizard 

 was so constructed as to enable it to produce a number of small concavities which act 

 like so many cupping glasses, and atmospheric pressure retains them in this position. 

 It appears that the fly's foot possesses concave surfaces capable of acting in the same 

 manner as those of the Lacerto Gecko, and therefore its progressive motion against 

 gravity is effected by the same means. 



BOTANY AND HORTICULTURE. 



IIAFFLESIA PATMA. 



This is one of those anomalous vegetable productions which are so numerous in some 

 of the Islands of the East Indian Archipelago, being without either root or leaves, 

 as the flower constitutes the whole of the plant. Dr Blume, in his excellent work on 

 the Flora: Java necnon Insularum adjacentium, has given an engraving of this flower, 

 from which the following has been reduced. 



The Raflflesia Patma of Blume is found in the shady thickets of the little island of 

 Nusa Kambagan, which adjoins Java on the south. It grows upon the roots of the 

 Cissus Scariosa of 'Blume, and seems exceedingly partial to moist ground, where the 

 diameter of the expanded flower is found to reach the size of two Dutch feet (about 

 one foot seven inches English), but in dryer,- and consequently less favorable situa- 

 tions, it does not exceed one EngUsli foot in diameter. 



The plants of the genus RaflBesia have been found on the stems, as well as upon the 

 roots, of the genera Cissus and Vitis ; they form the only instances of parasites on 

 roots, which likewise proceed from other parts of the plant. Isert, in his Reise iiach 

 Guinea, p. 283, mentions a plant, which he had observed in equinoctial Africa, para- 

 sitic on the roots of trees, consisting almost entirely of a single flower of a red colour, 

 which is probably allied to Rafilesiaj the smaller species of which it seems to resemble 

 in appearance. 



Dr Blume was convinced, after a careful examination of the R. Patma, that it had 

 no connexion whatever with the woody layers of the root of the Cissus Scariosa, but 

 that it was only united with the substance of the bark of the root. It is a singular 

 fact, that the growing bark, having its continuity interrupted by the collet of the 

 Rafflesia entering into its substance, swells into a cup-shaped process round about the 

 flower buds of the Rafflesia, and that this cup-like process varies in diameter according 

 to the length of time which must elapse between the first rising of the flower bud, 

 and the ultimate fall of the flower itself and of its remains. 



The R. Patma differs from the R. Arnoldi, figured in a former number (4), in 

 having the inside of the perianth red; and further, in having the columnar processes 

 of its disc more numerous, stranger, and more unequal in length. It seems to depart 

 still more widely from the general character of our ordinary dioecious plants. 



The successive development of the flower, from its first appearance upon the origi- 

 nal stock, until it is just ready to blow, is represented in the following cuts. 



M'ith respect to the place which the genus Rafllesia holds in the Vegetable King- 

 dom, the learned Dr Robert Brown has the following observations: — ** As to which 

 of the two primary divisions of phcenogamous plants the genus belongs, it may, I 

 think, without hesitation be referred to Di-cotyledones ; yet, if the plant be para- 

 sitic, and consequently no argument on this subject to be derived from the structure 

 of the root, which is exactly that of the Vine, the exclusion from Mono-cotyledoncs 

 would rest on no other grounds, that I am able to state, than the quinary division of 

 the perianthium, which, in other respects, also bears a considerable resemblance to 

 that of certain Di-eotyledonous orders ; the number of stamina and the ramification of 

 vessels in the bracteae, 



*< Assuming, however, that Rafflesia belongs to Di-cotyledones, and considering the 

 foliaceous scales which cover the expanded flower, both from their indefinite number 

 and imbricate insertion as bractere, and consequently the floral envelope as simple, its 

 comparison with the families of this primary division would be limited to such as are 

 apetalous, either absolutely, as Aserinje; those of a nature intermediate between the 

 apetalous and polypetalous, in which the segments of the perianthium are generally, 

 though not always, disposed in a double series, as PassifloreaB, CucurbitaCete, and 

 Ilomalime; or those which have a simple-coloured floral envelope, but are decidedly 

 related to polypetalous families, as Sterculiaceae." 



It is difl[icult to ascertain in what manner the impregnation of the female flower is 

 effected, when the anthers are so completely concealed as those of Rafflesia seem to 

 be in all states of the flower ; for it does not appear either that they can ever become 

 exposed by a change in the direction of the Umb under which they are inserted, or 

 even that this part of the column, in any stage, projects beyond the tube of the 

 perianth. 



It is probable, therefore, that the assistance of insects is absolutely necessary; and 

 it is not unlikely, both as connected with that mode of impregnation, and from the 

 structure of the anther itself, that in Rafflesia the same economy obtains as in the 

 stamina of certain Aroidca;, in which it has been observed that a continued secretion 

 and discharge of pollen takes place from the same coll; the whole quantity produced 

 greatly exceeding the size of the secreting organ. The passage of the pollen to the 

 bottom of the flower, where it is more easily accessible to insects, seems likewise to be 

 provided for, not only by the direction of the anther, but also by the form of the 

 corresponding cavities in the neck of the column, in the upper part of which they are 

 immersed. 



That insects are really necessary to the impregnation of the Raflflesia, is confirmed 

 by Ur Arnold's statement in regard to the other species, R. Arnoldi. By the fact 

 of the swarms actually seen hovering about and settling in the expanded flower, it is 

 more than probable that they were attracted by its peculiar odour. 



The modes of union between a parasite and the stock from which it springs, may 

 be divided into such as are entirely dependent on the stock during the whole of their 

 existence, and such as, in their more advanced state, produce roots of their own. 

 Among those that are in all stages absolutely parasitic, to which division the genus 

 Rafflesia probably belongs, very great differences exist in the mode of connexion. In 

 some of these the nature of the connexion is such as can only be explained on the 

 supposition that the germinating seed of the parasite excites a specific action on the 

 stock, the result of which is the formation of a structure, either wholly or in pai't, 

 derived from the root, and adapted to the support and probection of the undeveloped 

 parasite; analogous therefore to the production of galls by the puncture of insects. 



On this supposition the connexion between the flower of Rafflesia, and the root 

 from which it springs, though considerably different from any other known plant, 

 may also be explained. But until either precisely the same kind of union is observed 

 in-plants known to be parasite, or, which would be still more satisfactory, until the 

 leaves and fructification belonging to the root to which Rafflesia is attached, shall have 

 been found, its being a parasite, though highly probable, cannot be considered as 

 absolutely ascert;uned. 



