158 TENDRIL-BEARERS. Cuar, IV. 
species. The tendrils are thick, long, and stiff; they 
are sensitive to a touch only on the concave surface 
towards the extremity. When a stick was placed so 
that the middle of the tendril came into contact with it, 
no curvature ensued. In the hothouse a tendril made 
two revolutions, each in 2 hrs. 22m.; in a cool room 
one was completed in 3 hrs., and a second in 4 hrs. 
The internodes do not revolve; nor do those of the 
hybrid P. floribunda. 
Tacsonia manicata.—Here again the internodes do 
not revolve. The tendrils are moderately thin and 
long; one made a narrow ellipse in 5 hrs. 20 m., and 
the next day a broad ellipse in 5 hrs. 7m. The 
extremity being lightly rubbed on the concave surface, 
became just perceptibly curved in 7 m., distinctly in’ 
10 m., and hooked in 20 m. 
We have seen that the tendrils in the last three 
families, namely, the Vitacez, Sapindacese and Passi- 
floraceze, are modified flower-peduncles. This is like- 
wise the case, according to De Candolle (as quoted 
by Mohl), with the tendrils of Brunnichia, one of the 
Polygonacez. In two or three species of Modecea, one 
of the Papayacee, the tendrils, as I hear from 
Prof. Oliver, occasionally bear flowers and fruit; so 
that they are axial in their nature. 
The Spiral Contraction of Tendrils. 
This movement, which shortens the tendrils and 
renders them elastic, commences in half a day, or in a 
day or two after their extremitics have caught some 
