more freely on one side, showing a tendency to become dorsiventral. 

 this peculiarity, however, is not confined to the pitcher-roots. In the 

 roots of D. bengalensis, a species which is destitute of pitchers, a still 

 more marked d- >r~i vorit r.ii Mructure was observed. The root-hairs 

 adhere firmly to the particles of the humus contained in the pitchers. 

 The roots, both those in the pitchers and those external to them, show 

 several anatomical peculiarities described. These are published in the 

 full account of the investigation in the Annals of Botany (1893, p. 2 13). 

 The observations made all go to support the view that these ascidia 

 serve as reservoirs both for water and for vegetable detritus, from which 

 the roots derive nourishment. They also serve to condense, and thus to 

 economise, the aqueous vapour given off in transpiration. Both as 

 regards the morphology and physiology of these organs, the results of 

 tins investigation are confirmatory oi'tlm-e arrived at !.y Dr. Treub. 



like one picked up in Swansea Bay, and supposed to hav 

 veyed thither by the Gulf stream. In all probability this is the correct 

 explanation of its presence there, but of course a large handsome seed 

 such as this is often brought away from the tropics by travellers. 

 Two hundred years ago Sloane recorded {Philosophical Transaction* 

 of the Royal Society of London, 1696, xix. p. 298) the fact that this 

 seed and three other West Indian seeds were commonly cast ashore in 

 the Orkneys. And Linnaeus (Ameenitates Academics, viii. p. 3), 

 mentions this among other seeds thrown up on the Norwegian coast. 

 Some few years ago, too. several plants of Entada scandens were raised 

 at Kew from seeds cast up in the Azores. There is little doubt that in 

 all these instances the seeds had drifted from tropical America obliquely 

 across the Atlantic. But the most interesting point is that after floating 

 for weeks, and may be months, in sea-water they retnm their germinating 



