96 TENDRIL-BEARERS. Guar. IIL. 
between twenty and thirty times. The same tendril 
would frequently withdraw from one hole and insert 
its point into a second hole. I have also seen a 
tendril keep its point, in one case for 20 hrs. and in 
another for 86 hrs., in a minute hole, and then with- 
draw it. Whilst the point is thus temporarily inserted, 
the opposite tendril goes on revolving. 
The whole length of a tendril often fits itself closely 
to any surface of wood with which it has come into 
contact ; and I have observed one bent at right angles, 
from having entered a wide and deep fissure, with its 
apex abruptly re-bent and inserted into a minute 
lateral hole. After a tendril has clasped a stick, it 
contracts spirally ; if it remains unattached it hangs 
straight downwards. If it has merely adapted itself to 
the inequalities of a thick post, though it has clasped 
nothing, or if it has inserted its apex into some little 
fissure, this stimulus suffices to induce spiral contrac- 
tion; but the contraction always draws the tendril 
away from the post. So that in every case these 
movements, which seem so nicely adapted for some 
purpose, were useless. On one occasion, however, 
the tip became permanently jammed into a narrow 
fissure. I fully expected, from the analogy of B. 
capreolata and B. littoralis, that the tips would have 
been developed into adhesive discs; but I could 
never detect even a trace of this process. There 
is therefore at present something unintelligible about 
the habits of this plant. 
Bignonia picta—This species closely resembles the 
