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only during the first stage of germination that the motion to be de- 

 scribed takes placed and it is evident that the power of being able to 

 move about is to enable the plant to find a suitable place to grow 

 upon. The radicle at first grows out, and when it has attained a 

 length of about an inch it develops upon its extremity a flattened 

 disk, and then curves about until the disk is applied t'o any object 

 that is near at hand. If the spot upon which the disk fastens is suit- 

 able for further development of the plant, germination continues, and 

 no locomotion takes place ; but if, on the contrary, the spot should 



'not be favorable, the germinating embryo has the power of changing 

 its position. This is accomplished by the adhesive radicle raising 

 the seed and advancing it to another spot ; or, to make the process 

 plainer, the disk at the end of the radicle adheres very tightly to 

 whatever it is applied ; the radicle itself straightens and tears the 

 viscid berry away from whatever it has adhered to, and raises it in the 

 air. The radicle then again curves and carries the berry to another 

 spot, where it again fixes itself. Dr. Watt says he ,has seen this re- 

 peated several times, so that to a certain extent the young embryo, 

 still within the seed, moves about. It seems to select certain places 

 in preference to others, particularly the leaves, which in the Memecy- 

 Ion are evergreen and very dense. The berries on falling are almost 

 certain to alight on the leaves, and, although many germinate thereon, 

 they have been frequently observed to move off the leaves on to the 



•stems, and finally fasten there. 



iehan's Gardener s Monthly for Sep- 

 tember contains, as usual, some matters of special interest to botanists. 

 Prof. J. W. Beal gives the result of three years' experiments to ascer- 

 tain whether red clover not visited by bees will produce seeds- The 

 experiments were made by covering some heads and comparing them 

 with others uncovered. It would appear that the covered heads 

 often produced a considerable number of seeds ; but, as sometimes 

 they produced none, and, "in nearly every case, the heads which 

 were covered soon fall to the ground, where they remain until ripe,'' 

 the experiments seem inconclusive and require to be repeated with 

 more care and with a larger number. The germinating powers of the 

 seed should also be tested.* 



Gordonia pubescens, — In the same number of the Gardener's 

 Monthly, Mr. Ravenel gives a history of the discovery and loss of 

 Gordonia pubesce?is, L'Her., which was last seen in the uncultivated 

 state, by Moses Marshall in 1790, as stated in aletterin Darlington^s 

 Memorials of Bartram and Marshall, which does not seem to be re- 

 ferred to by Watson in his Bibliography. 



A 7nonstrous Cypripedium. — In the September number of The 

 Druggist^ Chicago, Professor Bastin describes and figures a mon- 

 strous Cypripedium found last June in the pine barrens at the south- 

 ern end of Lake Michigan. It had all three sepals distinct and of 

 equal size, and the three nearly equal petals were shaped alike, differ- 

 ing fr om the sepals only in being a little narrower and of course al- 



i" an editorial Mr. Meehan refers to these experiments in corroboration 

 of his own experiments and conclusions that there are many reasons why clover 

 does not seed, aside from mere questions of pollinization. 



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