THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 179 
development of the leaves themselves, as well as to keep 
up the stock of food usually stored in small quantities in 
most stems. 
The pith is very curious in structure, for instead of 
being solid it is in the form of small rounded plates, with 
spaces between filled with a watery fluid. This storage 
of water may have some connection with the character of 
the leaves, which are mesophytic (neither water-loving nor 
heat-loving), for they are large, wide, and thin, though 
they have a fairly thick epidermis and fairly numerous 
stomates on the under-side. Then, when the leaves do 
appear, they are used to a high degree to manufacture 
food, and if that is so, then transpiration or the giving off 
of water vapour will be fairly great-also. Part of this 
stored water may be used to supply the leaves with mois- 
ture to counterbalance the greater transpiration of this 
heat-loving plant, to prevent the fatal loss of too much 
water in the hot summer months. 
‘On the older stems there are large stout thorns, which 
have also a green cortex layer and thin bark, but pro- 
duced into a very sharp hard point at the apex. These 
protect the plant by presenting hard pointed surfaces. 
A valuable note is made by Dr. Farmer in the ‘‘History 
of Plants,’’ where he states that in the case of those plants 
which store more water than the usual supply, this water 
is necessary to keep the protoplasm of the cells concerned 
in a healthy condition to enable it to use this stored food. 
If water be wanting—and this is very likely in a climate 
such as ours—the stored food cannot be made use of, and 
the protoplasm will die. 
BREEDING HABITS OF BURMESE EEL 
(AMPHIPURUS EUCHTA). 
‘By H. E. Finckh. 
This eel, which is brought at times to us from China, 
is well known to many of us, and for sight years I have 
had three of them in a rather large tank. On the 7th 
January this year I noticed that some eggs had just been 
laid, giving me the opportunity of studying the behaviour 
of the adult fish towards the eggs. 
