[Picture: Fig. 11. Ampelopsis hederacea. A. Tendril fully developed, with a young leaf on the opposite side of the stem. B. Older tendril, several weeks after its attachment to a wall, with the branches thickened and spirally contracted, and with the extremities developed into discs. The unattached branches of this tendril have withered and dropped off] A tendril which has not become attached to any body, does not contract spirally; and in course of a week or two shrinks into the finest thread, withers and drops off. An attached tendril, on the other hand, contracts spirally, and thus becomes highly elastic, so that when the main foot-stalk is pulled the strain is distributed equally between all the attached discs. For a few days after the attachment of the discs, the tendril remains weak and brittle, but it rapidly increases in thickness and acquires great strength. During the following winter it ceases to live, but adheres firmly in a dead state both to its own stem and to the surface of attachment. In the accompanying diagram (fig. 11.) we see the difference between a tendril (B) some weeks after its attachment to a wall, with one (A) from the same plant fully grown but unattached. That the change in the nature of the tissues, as well as the spiral contraction, are consequent on the formation of the discs, is well shown by any lateral branches which have not become attached; for these in a week or two wither and drop off, in the same manner as does the whole tendril if unattached. The gain in strength and durability in a tendril after its attachment is something wonderful. There are tendrils now adhering to my house which are still strong, and have been exposed to the weather in a dead state for fourteen or fifteen years. One single lateral branchlet of a tendril, estimated to be at least ten years old, was still elastic and supported a weight of exactly two pounds. The whole tendril had five disc-bearing branches of equal thickness and apparently of equal strength; so that after having been exposed during ten years to the weather, it would probably have resisted a strain of ten pounds!