Tendrils in the Virginian Creeper. 255 



lar, but, further, at the base of the petiole, two true stipules 

 are always present, whilst on the tendril at each fork there is. 

 — and this also occurs in Vitis cordifolia — only one append- 

 age, resembling, in this respect, the similar single append- 

 age at each fork, subsequent to the first, in the peduncle 

 and pedicel of the flower. Again, it will be noticed that in 

 Ampelopsis quinquefolia the panicles of flowers possess the 

 same peculiarity as the tendril, in the panicles appearing 

 in successions of twos on the flower-bearing branches, but 

 on the opposite side from the leaves, and in a panicle being 

 wanting opposite each third leaf. The tendrils, further, 

 occur in this plant only on the young leading shoots, and 

 never on the flower-bearing branches which issue from 

 these in the second or succeeding year. We might thus, 

 perhaps, regard the tendrils of the Virginian Creeper as 

 undeveloped panicles, which, appearing this year, serve the 

 important purpose of enabling the parent stem to climb 

 the suj)porting tree or wall, and thus best attain a position 

 suitable for bearing its fully developed flowers on branch- 

 lets, which issue from this stem during next or in succeed- 

 ing years. Torrey and Gray, in characterizing the order 

 Yitaca?, to which Ampelopsis quinquefolia belongs, refer to 

 the lower leaves as opposite and "the upper alternate, 

 opposite the racemes or thyrsoid panicles, which are some- 

 times changed into tendrils." Passing over the fact that 

 opposite lower leaves is not a character common to all spe- 

 cies in the order, the change from panicles to tendrils — 

 which I have seen in Vitis cordifolia, but not in Ampelopsis 

 quinquefolia — would seem to confirm the view I have taken 

 of the affinities of the tendril in this plant. 



Abstract of a Paper on the Cambrian Faunas of 

 Cape Breton and Newfoundland. 



By G. F. Matthew. 



In a paper read before the Eoyal Society of Canada on 

 " The Cambrian Faunas of Cape Breton and Newfound- 

 land," Mr. Gr. F. Matthew points out that the slates at Mira 



