11 



Cirsium lanceolatum^ Scop., with pure white flowers. 



A seed of Fraxinus Americana^ L., with triquetrous wing. 



Taraxacum, with scape bearing about midway a foliaceous bract, 



and a similar one just below the involucre. 

 Concordvillle, Pa. 



Wi 



Heterpcentron roseum of the conservatories acts in the same 

 exquisite manner as its cousin Rhexia, The eight stamens are in two 

 sets, one set dehiscing before the^other. In the bud, the anthers are 

 So thrown over that their backs are against the style. The long con- 

 nective is, at its union with the filament, bifurcated into two diverg- 

 ing "setae" in the outer stamens, while the other set is devoid of 

 these appendages. I have been delighted to find that, upon pressing 

 the bellows-like anther with a blunt pencil, the pollen was ejected to 

 a full inch in distance and with great force. 



\V. W. Bailey. 



Migrations of Plants.— Some years ago I sold a piece of ground 

 through which a street was made, forming in one part, by damming 

 the surface water, a small marsh. A few years afterwards I found 

 one plant of Typha laiifolia growing there. It did not at that time 

 grow naturally within many miles. I feel as sure as we can be of 

 most things, that the seed did not get there by human agency. I 

 had seen snipes in the little marsh, and I concluded it the most 

 probable that the seed had been brought with the mud in the feet of 

 aquatic birds. It seems possible for many plants to be distributed by 

 this means, and possibly the Marsilia quadrifolia found above Ded- 

 ham by Mr. Clapp, may have been introduced to the Charles River 

 m that way. If this should prove a sound guess, it may come about 

 that the Connecticut plant is a comparatively modern introduction 

 through the agency of some larger arctic water bird which wandered 

 there from Siberia, where the plant is known to grow, or some nearer 

 place perchance, where it has not been collected yet. It seems to 

 me that when plants which may be easily distributed are found but 

 in limited localities, we may act on the presumption that they are 

 recent introductions. I think it would help geographical botany very 

 much if the first appearance of even common plants in any new lo- 

 cality were placed on record. In this respect, Mr. Lester F. Ward's 

 notes on the flora of the vicinity of Washington seem to my mind, 

 very valuable. 



Thomas Meehan. 



A large Grape-vine. — Many years ago I found a colony of 



large grapes-vines, supposed to be Vitu Labrusca^ L., in Wayne 

 County, Ohio. A few years ago I revisited the spot for the purpose 

 of making measurements. The trunks (for such they were) ranged 

 from three inches to over a foot in diameter, the longest one having 



ground. 



about 



Ames, Iowa. 



C. E. Bessey. 



