129 



127. A white-fruited Blackberry-— In the eastern part of 



Dutchess County, N. Y., there is a large, rocky, wild and uninhabited 

 tract of land, elevated about five or six hundred feet above the val- 

 ley below. The adventurous hunter and enthusiastic naturalist are 

 about all that traverse this region. In the summer of 1879, whilst 

 crossing this tract, I found growing a specimen of Rubus vil/osus. 

 Ait., with white ripe fruit, as sweet and as pleasant to the taste as the 

 black berries of the same species. The plant was apparently as vig- 

 orous as its normal neighbors which grew quite sparingly in the same 

 locality. The foliage had that lighter color so common to plants that 

 have become white-flowered. I carefully removed the bush to the 

 garden of a farmer, who gave it kindly care, and it has since 

 flourished, bearing its white fruit each season. I also sent some of 

 the seeds to Mr. Chorlton of Staten Island, who planted them, and 

 who will, in due time, report whether they reproduce their albino 

 parent. 



About twenty-five or thirty miles northeast from the place that I 

 have mentioned is Mount Riga, on the border of the State of Mass- 

 achusetts. On this mountain, about a thousand feet in height, I also 

 found a single specimen of the white-fruited Ji. villosiis. I have 

 heard that persons in search of berries occasionally find, in this lo- 

 cality, similar plants. If this be true, these ridges must favor the 

 growth of this peculiar variety. 



G. M. WiLBER. 



128. Flowering of Plants in Autumn.— About the first week 



in July of the past summer, I visited the province of New Brunswick. 

 In botanizing about the capital city, Fredericton, which is about sixty 

 miles inland, I was impressed with the curious mingling of early 

 summer and autumn flowers. In the same field would be seen, in 

 blossom, Leticaftthemimi vulgare, Ranunculus acris in profusion, and 

 several solidagos and asters. The short summer of the region seems 

 to crowd the seasons together; ** spring and autumn here dance 

 hand in hand." 



The above note suggests a similar topic. As the autumn advanced 

 here, in Providence, R. I., my four-o'clocks {Mirabilis Jalapd) 

 bloomed regularly in the morning, from six to seven o'clock to ten or 

 thereabouts. The morning-glories bloomed in the afternoon. On^ 

 the now famous '^ yellow '' day, or dark day, as it is called, I am told 

 that sunflowers in this neighborhood were blighted. I cannot sub- 

 stantiate the statement, which is curious if true. Did any one note 

 the nyctotropic conditions of leaves at that time ? 



Oct. 12, 1881. 



W 



129. An Adventive Grass. — Towards the end of last August, 

 the Rev. E. E. Butler of Easton, Pa., collected in a wild ravine near 

 Dobb's Ferry, N. Y., where it grows in considerable abundance, a 

 grass which proves to be Festuca giganfeUy Villars — anotlier addition 

 to our long list of plants introduced from Europe. 



Thos. C. Porter. 



