838 
SPONTANEOUS MOVEMENTS IN PLANTS. 
the wall itself. As soon as the attachment is accomplished 
the tendril gradually thickens and contracts spirally. This 
spiral contraction, indeed, is always the result of the tendril 
meeting with a support; and if no support is found, the 
tendril soon shrinks and withers away. Some tendrils ex¬ 
hibit a most remarkable power of selection, which, to use Mr. 
Darwin's words, “ would, in an animal, be called instinct." 
The tendrils of a species of Bignoviia slowly travelled over the 
surface of a piece of wood, and when the apex of one of them 
came to a hole or fissure, it inserted itself; the same tendril 
would frequently withdraw from one hole and insert its point 
into a second one. Mr. Darwin has seen a tendril keep its 
point, in one instance for twenty hours, and in another in¬ 
stance for thirty-six hours, in a minute hole, and then with¬ 
draw it. After the record of this fact on such unexceptional 
evidence, we are the more prepared to credit the statement 
of Mr. Anderson-Henry that a climber will, in running up a 
wall, carefully avoid contact with another climber which it 
dislikes; and even the account by M. Paul Levy* that the 
lianes of tropical forests have an affinity for certain trees, to¬ 
wards which they direct their growth, and not towards those 
nearest to them; carefully drawing themselves away when 
they encounter one of the objectionable trees. 
We may conclude our account of climbing plants with the 
following remarks by Mr. Darwin :— u It has often been 
vaguely asserted that plants are distinguished from animals 
by not having the power of movement. It should rather be 
said that plants acquire and display this power only when it 
is of some advantage to them, but that this is of compa¬ 
ratively rare occurrence, as they are affixed to the ground 
and food is brought to them by the wind and rain. We see 
how high in the scale of organisation a plant may rise, when 
we look at one of the more perfect tendril-bearers. It first 
places its tendrils ready for action, as a polypus places its ten- 
tacula. If the tendril be displaced, it is acted on by the force 
of gravity, and rights itself. It is acted on by the light, and 
bends towards or from it, or disregards it, whichever mav be 
most advantageous. During several days the tendrils or in¬ 
ternodes, or both, spontaneously revolve with a steady motion. 
The tendril strikes some object, and quickly curls round, and 
firmly grasps it. In the course of some hours it contracts 
into a spire, dragging up the stem, and forming an excellent 
spring. All movements now cease. By growth, the tissues 
# c Bulletin de la Societe Botanique deFrance.’ Translated in the ‘Gar¬ 
dener’s Chronicle/ March 19, 1870. 
