94 
(“Mdmoire,” &c., pp. 103, &c.,) and Gaudichaud (“Recher- 
ches,” &c., pi. xviii., fig. 11, p. 129,) figures an allied species, 
but I have not, as yet, identified either amongst those 
coining with cotton. I exhibit however a stem which ap- 
pears to be the Tetrapterys Guilleminiana , referred to by 
Jussieu, and figured by him in his monograph, plate iii., fig, 
5, p. 106; but this species does not exhibit the sinuosities 
so characteristic of most of the lianas of this family. 
As a general rule, the woody matter is developed un- 
equally round the central pith in the form of irregular 
lobes, the bark closely following all the sinuosities of the 
stem. If the lobes increase on one side of the stem only, 
the pith soon becomes eccentric ; but, on the other hand, in 
many species, while the pith retains its central position, the 
irregular growth of the woody lobes — each of which is 
closely invested by the bark— causes some to grow beyond 
their neighbours, and these latter, in the progress of growth, 
become imbedded, with their bark, in the midst of the 
woody matter produced by the more vigorous lobes. A 
stem in this adult state therefore presents the greatest 
irregularity of form particularly in the genera Banisteria 
and Heteropierys. 
Sapindacece. 
In this natural order we meet with some wonderful 
aberrant forms of dicotyledonous stems, but I shall here notice 
only two which are met with on cotton bales. 
One of these is most probably the Serjania cuspidata 
figured by Duchartre (“Elements,” &c., fig. 82, p. 170) and 
Schleiden (“Principles,” fig. 168, p. 253), and easily recog- 
nized by its triangular form and compound character. It 
consists of a primitive stem not specially noticeable for any 
divergence from the usual type of a dicotyledonous stem ; 
but round this stem are arranged three other lateral stems, 
each of which has its own bark separate from the rest, but 
