42 



Curious Illustration of Vegetable Morphology. 



CURIOUS ILLUSTRATION OF VEGETABLE 

 MORPHOLOGY. 



It is not uncommon for natural objects to assume somewhat 

 extraordinary forms, but perhaps few are more curious than the 

 one which I have endeavoured to represent in the accompany- 

 ing sketch. This singular freak of nature was shown to me at 

 the house of some friends with whom I have been recently 

 staying, and was cut from an ash-tree in a wood near Reculver, 

 in Kent. The branch suddenly assumes a flattened form, and 

 shortly after separates into two branches, which bear at first 

 sight a curious resemblance to the antlers of a stag. Buds 

 appear at short intervals, some of them with an approach to 

 regularity in their arrangement, others in clusters. The two 

 arms, after division, are not exactly in the same plane, the 

 small one being slightly foreshortened when the large one is in 

 full view. My drawing, though somewhat rough, is, I believe, 

 accurate, being made from a pencil sketch and description 

 which I took from the object itself. I neglected at the time to 

 take the actual measurements, but the length of the large arm 

 is scarcely less than eighteen inches. As an example of the 

 curious in nature you may possibly deem it worthy of a notice 

 in the Intellectual Observer. 



Robert Gausby. 



