--The hypocotyls,
epicotyls, and first shoots of the many seedlings observed by us, after
they had become straight and erect, circumnutated continuously. The
diversified figures described by them, often during two successive days,
have been shown in the woodcuts in the last chapter. It should be
recollected that the dots were joined by straight lines, so that the
figures are angular; but if the observations had been made every few
minutes the lines would have been more or less curvilinear, and irregular
ellipses or ovals, or perhaps occasionally circles, would have been formed.
The direction of the longer axes of the ellipses made during the same day
or on successive days generally changed completely, so as to stand at right
angles to one another. The number of irregular ellipses or circles made
within a given time differs much with different species. Thus with Brassica
oleracea, Cerinthe major, and Cucurbita ovifera about four such figures
were completed in 12 h.; whereas with Solanum palinacanthum and Opuntia
basilaris, scarcely more than one. The figures likewise differ greatly in
size; thus they were very small and in some degree doubtful in Stapelia,
and large in Brassica, etc.
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