THE FERTILIZATION OF GERANIUMS. 
BY ALICE EASTWOOD. 
There are three species of Geranium common in Colorado — G. 
Fremontii, G. Richardsonti and G. cespitosum. The first two are 
found through the mountains and valleys of the whole State and 
vary considerably; the last seems to be restricted to Southwestern 
Colorado. When the flower expands the pistils are erect and some- 
what convolute, while the stamens curve backward, the versatile 
anthers hanging downward so as to discharge the pollen at the 
bottom of the petals, instead of on the stigmas. When the anthers 
are empty, the stamens become straight and the pistils curve back- 
ward. The styles are stigmatic along the inner and afterwards the 
upper edge, so that self-fertilization would seem impossible. How- 
ever, the hymeneal insect comes to its relief, and whether it is a 
bee, beetle or fly seems not to matter in the least. Between each 
petal, at the very base, is a small gland on the receptacle from 
which a drop of honey can be seen to exude. In seeking the 
sweets, the insect unavoidably becomes a bearer of pollen to the 
next flower that it visits. I have seen flies alight first upon the ex- 
panded pistils with legs dusted with ‘pollen, and again I have ob- 
served them crawling at the base of the flower, with difficulty mak- 
ing their way among the viscid hairs on the corolla and uncon- 
sciously gathering the grains of pollen that had fallen from the 
open anthers. On the same plant may be found flowers in all stages 
of development, so that undoubtedly cross fertilization prevails ex- 
clusively among the wild Geraniums of Colorado, 
DENVER, Coto. 
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NOTES ON THE LAND MAMMALS OF CALIFORNIA. 
BY WALTER E. BRYANT. ; 
_ Since the publication of the Provisional list of the land mammals 
of California, which was intended as a beginning for a catalogue of 
the known mammals of California with their life histories, several 
important changes have occurred and are to be noticed here. Sey- 
eral species were included upon the authority of the earlier writers, 
and in the present imperfect state of our knowledge upon the dis- 
