54 



THE NATURALIST. 



equally careful in dealing with. " Pigment Cells" we are quii6 as likely to be- 

 led astray. Asking your kind indulgence for so long an introduction to our 

 subject, I come at once to the matter under our consideration this evening. 



Yiist. — Pigment Cells are contained in those parts of plants, generc^Aly 

 called the fiowers — botanically styled the " Corolla," the subdivisions 

 of which are known as "Petals." It is to the corolla or petals then we 

 must look for the various objects under consideration this evening. Pigment 

 cells are different in their rature to those cells which contain the green 

 colouring matter in the leaves of plants ; this green colouring matter, called 

 by botanists Chloropliyll, is not found in the outer cuticle of the green 

 leaves of plants, for these cuticles are colourless in themselves, the green 

 colour is found in cells underlying the cuticle altogether ; but in " pigment 

 cells," the various hues and shades of colours, are deposited, and found, in 

 the cuticles of the petals themselves, varying both in size, and form, in 

 almost every diilerent order to which any plant may belong. 



Now, to attempt to take even a glance at the world's Plora, would be 

 quite out of place in a short paper, such as is usually read in this place, I 

 shall therefore select a few, as affording distinctive marks, and characters, 

 and serving as types of many others, but before I proceed with the subjects 

 selected, I must first describe how they can be prepared for examination. 



Secondly. — Pigment cells can, in a very simple manner, be prepared by 

 any one, and as the way of preparing them may not be generally known, I 

 shall have much pleasure in simply describing the manner, in which (I may 

 say without egotism) I have been very successful. As the Pelargonium is 

 a common, a well known, and withal a most beautiful object, we will take it 

 as an illustration, and by way of example it will serve for the rest. We 

 carefully select a clean and perfect petal, and, without bruising it in any way 

 or manner, carefully pull it out of the calyx, so to speak, by the roots ; we 

 then lay this across the forefinger of the right hand, the point of the petal is 

 then held tightly by the thumb, the opposite end of the petal is held tight 

 on the other side by the second finger; with the left hand, now by means of 

 the thumb nail, we begin to scrape at the root end of the petal very gently, 

 and if properly done, the part scraped up may be gently raised and stripped 

 off, and then can be floated on to a glass slide in a saucer of water ; the 

 floating in water is not, however, the best way of affixing the cuticle to the 

 glass, the cells containing the colouring fluid being so thin and in stripping 

 off are so liable to be ruptured, that when placed in water, they often 

 lose much of their colouring matter, which is a great objection to this mode 



