126 Thiselton-Dyer. — Morphological Notes. 
spots with which the surface is studded. These produce exactly the same 
effect as a minute Lichen ( Lecanora ) on weathered stones. 
I exhibited a pan of the plant at a Royal Society conversazione in 
1903 and pointed out the resemblance (see Nature, vol. lxviii, p. 185). It 
was then even more striking than in the accompanying illustration (Plate 
VIII, from a photograph by Mr. E. J. Wallis), which is half life-size. Since 
then the plants have produced a second crop of leaves which are still not 
yet fully developed. 
I learn from Nature (vol. Ixxi, p. 232) that Dr. R. Marloth has dis- 
cussed the adaptive resemblances which form the subject of this article in 
a paper in the Trans. S. Afric. Phil. Soc. (vol. xv, p. 97). Of this I have 
seen nothing but the brief abstract. He states that M. Bolusii grows ‘ on 
the rocks round the Kami ’ and ‘ closely resembles the surrounding stone, 
although for a short time its bright yellow flowers render it conspicuous 
enough.’ These are figured from the Kew specimen by Sir Joseph Hooker 
in the Botanical Magazine, t. 6664. 
Anacampseros papyracea. 
The two preceding plants belong to Ficoideae ; the present to the 
closely related order Portulacaceae. Technically, it is a shrub : the leaves 
are minute and are concealed by their much larger dry and membranous 
stipules which form the imbricated investment of the persistent stems. 
One may wonder what the perplexed palaeontologist would make of the 
impression of such a plant in the fossil state. It is also a native of the 
Kami, and Kew is indebted for the specimen shown in the life-size illus- 
tration (Plate IX, from a photograph by Mr. E. J. Wallis) to Mr. H. J. 
Chalwin, Superintendent of the Municipal Gardens, Cape Town, who sent it 
in 1898. In this case Dr. R. Marloth suggests that the protective resem- 
blance is with c the quartz pebbles among which it grows.’ At the risk of 
suggesting one perhaps somewhat far-fetched, I must confess that the aspect 
of the plant always calls to my mind the dejecta of some bird, and the 
more so owing to the whitening of the branches towards the tips. 
My friend, Mr. N. E. Brown, whose unique knowledge of South 
African plants is the result of the study of a lifetime, tells me that he has 
long had the plant under cultivation, yet has never succeeded in seeing 
the flowers. I am indebted to him for the following interesting note 
‘The flowers of Anacampseros papyracea are at present unknown to 
science. I have had the plant under notice for many months, but have 
never seen a flower. One plant, however, produced several ripe capsules, 
which were developed at the very tips of the branches, and although I saw 
the plant daily, the first evidence I had that it had flowered was the 
protrusion of the young fruit through the dome of papery stipules which 
