to the roots or stems of species of vines. The buds, of which there are three dried specimens on the shelf, are like small cabbages; they take three months to expand. There are several other species of this genus with smaller flowers. On the second shelf will be seen some branches of a spiny Astragalus from Persia, attacked by a species of Pilostyles, another genus of RAFFLESIACEE, Consisting also only of small fleshy flowers rising from the stem of the supporting plant. Another species (P. æthiopica), from tropical Africa, is preserved in spirit. A very large number of Fungi are parasites on other plants, on animals, and even on man. Examples of some of these will be found in their systematic position in Table Case A.

Case 20 is occupied in the upper part with the leafless, spinecovered, fleshy stems of the CACTACEE, natives of tropical America. In the centre is a specimen of Cactus senilis. A fine flowering head of this stem is placed under a glass cover over the opposite Table Case. The under part of the Case presents some remarkable illustrations of the effect produced by incisions through the bark and into the wood of living trees, in portions of trunks of the tree furnishing the Winter's Bark (Wintera aromatica), from the Straits of Magellan, which exhibit inscriptions made during the voyages of Bougainville (1767) and Cordoba (1786), and having been cut down by Captain P. P. King, R.N., in the year 1832, the number of concentric layers was found exactly to coincide with the number of intervening years.

An interesting set of specimens occupy the Table Case (28) opposite, showing the attempts made to repair injuries done to the stems of trees. In the two adjoining Table Cases (29, 30), small specimens are exhibited, showing remarkable forms of pith, bark, wood, and other structures in the stems.

On the back of Case 21 are placed several of the Lianas of tropical forests. They belong to different natural orders. Hanging perpendicularly or obliquely from the trees, they make the forest almost impassable to man, but are specially adapted to the arboreal habits of the monkeys, tiger-cats, and other inhabitants of the forests. Their weight, increasing as they grow, becomes at length too great for the supporting trees, and these yielding, give to the lianas the most extraordinary contortions. On the shelves at the base of the case are placed a large menispermous root, which supplies tapioca, the creeping rhizome of the yellow Water-lily, and seeds of Nelumbium speciosum which germinated in 1850, after they had been 150 years in the collection of Sir Hans Sloane. Also specimens of the Rose of Jericho (Anastatica), a small annual growing in arid places in Palestine and neighbouring countries. When it has seeded, the

branches curl inwards, forming a ball, which when loosened from the soil, is driven about by the wind. It is remarkably hygrometric, the whole plant expanding when placed in water, no matter how dry it has become.

Case 22 contains further examples of noteworthy Dicotyledonous

stems. Among those calling for special mention are the Rice-paper plant, Tetrapanax papyrifera, of China, remarkable for its large, soft, solid pith, from which are dexterously cut the thin slices of the so-called rice-p -paper used by the Chinese for water-colour paintings; Lagetta lintearia, or Lace-bark of the West Indies, the inner bark of which can be, after maceration, split up into layers of beautifully interlaced fibres resembling lace; the Cork-oak, Quercus suber, of Spain and North Africa, the outer layers of the bark, which increase annually, ultimately possess great thickness, forming cork; a section of the stem of Urtica gigas, a gigantic species of nettle forming a large tree in Northern Australia. The large woody blunt prickles on the stem of a species of Xanthoxylum from the Cape (called "Hercules' Club"), and the internal structure of the stem of Clematis hexapetala, at the back of the Case, are also deserving of attention, as well as the singularly lobed and channelled trunk of the Paddle-wood of Guiana, Aspidosperma excelsa.

In Case 23 are placed on the walls and shelves some fruits of the Gourd and Pea families (Cucurbitaceae and Leguminosa), the forms of some of which are very singular. On the floor of the Case are sections of the stems of trees of the families Leguminosa and Myrtacea. Among these some of the gum trees (Eucalyptus) of Australia are noticeable for their inner bark, which splits up into papery layers. A section of a very large stem of the Tamarisk (Tamarix gallica) from Mentone, and of the Ivy (Hedera Helix) from Kent, are also exhibited.

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Case 24 is occupied by further specimens of Dicotyledonous woods and fruits. On the shelves are placed the fruits of various species of Lecythis from Brazil, called "monkey-pots," which contain the seeds known as Sapucaia nuts;" of the closely allied Bertholletia excelsa, the seeds in which are the familiar Brazil nuts;" of Theobroma Cacao, from the seeds of which are made cocoa and chocolate; of the gigantic Baobabs (Adansonia digitata of Africa and A. Gregorii of Australia) and other plants. In bottles are specimens of cloves and nutmeg, the first the unopened flower-buds of Caryophyllus aromaticus, the second the seed of Myristica moschata, the aril or inner covering of which forms "mace." On the floor are sections of the stems of various trees, including the Proteacea and Casuarina of Australia, and the Oreodaphne fotens of the Canary Islands, remarkable for the persistency of its very disagreeable odour, which is undiminished after more than a century's preservation.

The Wall Cases in the next room contain a selection from the extensive collection of FOSSILS bequeathed by Robert Brown, and other specimens since acquired.

On the upper

Case 25 contains specimens of fossil FERNS. shelves are numerous stems of different species of Psaronius, invested with thick coverings of aerial roots. They are from the Carboniferous and Permian strata of Saxony and Bohemia. Fronds of Palæopteris hibernica, from the Devonian rocks of the South of Ireland, the

lower fruiting pinnules of which exhibit small bivalved capsules like those of the living British Hymenophyllum. Larger specimens of Psaronius from the coal-fields of Ohio occupy the floor of the Case

The ARBORESCENT CRYPTOGAMS of the Paleozoic rocks are represented in Case 26. Several specimens of the genus Ulodendron, showing the characteristic scars of the aerial roots, are placed on the upper shelves; one of them, U. minus, has the tissues of the vascular axis still preserved. On the next shelf are specimens of the stems, foliage, and fruit of Calamites, a plant nearly allied to the existing Equisetum. Below them are placed a series of specimens from the Devonian Rocks of Gaspé, Canada, presented by Principal Dawson. Among them are specimens of the roots, stems, leaves, and fruits of his Psilophyton princeps, stems of P. robustius, &c. Here also are two specimens of Sigillaria oculata, one of them showing three transverse markings produced by seasonal or other interruptions in its growth. A section of Sigillaria from the tufaceous rocks of Arran, Scotland, enclosing stems of several other plants, all exhibiting the details of their structure. A large slab presents a repeatedly branching specimen of Lepidodendron, with leaves attached, from the Halifax coalfield, presented by J. Waterhouse, Esq.

Case 27 contains specimens of PALM STEMS, chiefly from Antigua. Many of these exhibit the perishable tissues of the plants preserved in the most exquisite manner in imperishable silex, and one specimen especially shows the delicate leaves of the unopened terminal bud, with every detail of the internal structure converted into translucent calcedony.

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The fossil CYCADEE occupy Case 28. On the upper shelf and on the floor are placed stems of Mantellia, from the Dirt-bed" of the Isle of Portland, where they are known as Crows' nests." The next shelf contains specimens of a remarkable extinct form Bennettites; two species, B. Saxbyanus and B. Gibsonianus, are from the Secondary rocks of the Isle of Wight; and a third, B. Peachianus, from those of Sutherlandshire. The details of their fruit are exhibited in the transparent sections placed in the Table Case opposite. Specimens of one species of Yatesia, from Cambridgeshire, and three from Sutherlandshire, are placed on one of the shelves, and near them are a series of Cycadean cones from the Wealden of the Isle of Wight.

its

Čase 29 contains specimens of fossil CONIFERE. This Order makes appearance early in the rocks of the earth. The Devonian and Carboniferous measures contain species belonging to two distinct groups, transparent sections of which are placed in the Table Case opposite. Two forms of Trigonocarpum from the coal measures, believed to belong to Taxineous conifers, are placed in this case, Coniferous wood is abundant in Secondary and Tertiary strata, and there are here specimens from the well-known land surface in the Purbecks of the Isle of Portland, from the Cretaceous rocks of Maid

stone, from the Wealden of the Isle of Wight, and from other formations and localities. Cones of several species of Pines are placed on the shelves, and microscopic sections showing the seeds are placed in the Table Case.

Woods belonging to the more highly organized ANGIOSPERMOUS DICOTYLEDONS are contained in Case 30.

A large Exogenous trunk, completely bored by Teredina personata, a mollusk allied to the Shipworm, is placed at the end of the room. It had floated in the Tertiary seas until it was completely destroyed by this boring shell, and was ultimately buried in the London clay. Smaller fragments of wood from Tertiary strata bored by the same, and a fragment from the Greensand by a similar mollusk are placed in Case 6.

The series of fossil remains is continued in the table cases opposite. Case 33 illustrates the condition of plant remains in which the substance of the original organisms continues, but is more or less altered. Various stages from ordinary wood to coal are represented by different specimens. The scarcely changed wood from one of the piles of old London Bridge, from the royal palace at Nineveh, and from a submarine forest in Somersetshire, lead on to the more highly altered woods and leaves from the Brown-Coal of Germany; and these are again succeeded by the Coniferous wood and jet from the secondary rocks of Britain, and lastly by true coal. Illustrations are also shown of similar changes produced more rapidly under the influence of heat in the different grains obtained after the famous fire in Tooley Street, in 1861, and in a specimen of linseed charred by heating in the confined hold of the vessel in its passage from the Black Sea to the port of London. In the next case (34) are placed specimens in which the plants are represented by amorphous casts, or by mineral pseudomorphs of the original structures. In Cases 35 and 36 are placed a series of sections of fossil plants fitted for microscopic examination and exhibiting their minute structure. The sections are arranged in the systematical order observed throughout the rooms. A few cellular cryptogams begin the series. Then an extensive series of vascular cryptogams from coal measures, including the fruits and stems of Ferns, Calamites, and Lycopods. Then follow in Case 36 a few palm stems, a series of the fruits and stems of Conifers, and several angiospermous Dicotyledons, including several specimens from Tertiary rocks of England.

On the end walls of this room are hung a selection of drawings of Australian plants from the large series made by Ferdinand Bauer. The original sketches were drawn in Australia when he accompanied Robert Brown as Natural History Artist in Capt Flinders' expedition. The finished drawings were made between 1805 and 1813 after his return to England. The specimens selected illustrate some of the more remarkable forms of Australian Orchids.

Below these drawings are placed sections of Exogenous stems, among

which may be noticed large trunks of Quercus alba and Juglans nigra from Upper Canada, and of Gum-trees, Acacias &c., from Australia.

There still remains to be noticed the large series of specimens of the natural order Proteacea, exhibited in Table Cases 7-9 and 12-18 in the Inner Room. This order has been selected because it consists of a group of plants which are very distinct in many important characters from their nearest allies, and yet have a remarkable variety and diversity amongst themselves in their habit and foliage. They are chiefly found in Australia (where they form one of the most striking peculiarities of the vegetation), and in South Africa; a small group exists in South America, and a few species with Australian affinities pass northward through the Pacific Islands into Continental Asia. The order was represented in Europe by many species during the Tertiary period; their foliage is frequent in pipe-clay beds of the Isle of Wight, and the section of a stem from the Crag is exhibited in Table Case 30. An attempt is made here to illustrate, as far as possible, the protean foliage of the order, but only a few of the thousand or more known species could be exhibited.

WILLIAM CARRUTHERS.