Cuap. III. BIGNONIACE, 95 
their behaviour: I repeatedly placed close to them, 
thick and thin, rough and smooth sticks and posts, as 
well as string suspended vertically, but none of these 
objects were well seized. After clasping an upright 
stick, they repeatedly loosed it again, and often would 
not seize it at all, or their extremities did not coil 
closely round. I have observed hundreds of tendrils 
belonging to various Cucurbitaceous, Passifloraceous, 
and Leguminous plants, and never saw one behave in 
this manner. When, however, my plant had grown 
to a height of eight or nine feet, the tendrils acted 
much better. They now seized a thin, upright stick 
horizontally, that is, at a point on their own level, and 
not some way up the stick as in the case of all the 
previous species. Nevertheless, the non-twining stem 
was enabled by this means to ascend the stick. 
The extremity of the tendril is almost straight and 
sharp. The whole terminal portion exhibits a singular 
habit, which in an animal would be called an instinct ; 
for it continually searches for any little crevice or hole 
into which to insert itself. I had two young plants ; 
and, after having observed this habit, I placed near 
them posts, which had been bored by beetles, or had 
become fissured by drying. The tendrils, by their 
own movement and by that of the internodes, slowly 
travelled over the surface of the wood, and when the 
apex came to a hole or fissure it inserted itself; in 
order to effect this the extremity for a length of half 
or quarter of an inch, would often bend itself at right 
angles to the basal part. I have watched this process 
