The tendrils are thin, from 7 to 9 inches in length, with a pair of short lateral branches rising not far from the base. The tip is slightly and permanently curved, so as to act to a limited extent as a hook. The concave side of the tip is highly sensitive to a touch; but not so the convex side, as was likewise observed to be the case with other species of the family by Mohl (p. 65). I repeatedly proved this difference by lightly rubbing four or five times the convex side of one tendril, and only once or twice the concave side of another tendril, and the latter alone curled inwards. In a few hours afterwards, when the tendrils which had been rubbed on the concave side had straightened themselves, I reversed the process of rubbing, and always with the same result. After touching the concave side, the tip becomes sensibly curved in one or two minutes; and subsequently, if the touch has been at all rough, it coils itself into a helix. But the helix will, after a time, straighten itself, and be again ready to act. A loop of thin thread only one-sixteenth of a grain in weight caused a temporary flexure. The lower part was repeatedly rubbed rather roughly, but no curvature ensued; yet this part is sensitive to prolonged pressure, for when it came into contact with a stick, it would slowly wind round it. One of my plants bore two shoots near together, and the tendrils were repeatedly drawn across one another, but it is a singular fact that they did not once catch each other. It would appear as if they had become habituated to contact of this kind, for the pressure thus caused must have been much greater than that caused by a loop of soft thread weighing only the one-sixteenth of a grain. I have, however, seen several tendrils of _Bryonia dioica_ interlocked, but they subsequently released one another. The tendrils of the Echinocystis are also habituated to drops of water or to rain; for artificial rain made by violently flirting a wet brush over them produced not the least effect.