140 



Note on the Tuckahoe.— Reading over the notes on tuckahoe 

 in the October Bulletin, recalls to mind what little I know of it. 

 I have never met with it about Aiken, but many years ago, when I 

 lived in the coast region of the State, I saw specimens frequently. 



Most generally they were picked up in plowed ground, brought 

 to the surface by the plow. I have a distinct recollection of find- 

 ing on an old half-rotted pine rail, buried under the surface, several 

 specimens, five or six in number, of sizes varying from that of a 

 hen's egg or less, to more than double that size. They seemed 

 attached to the half-rotted rail. They were all perfect in growth, 

 that is, they seemed to have attained their full size, and were cov- 

 ered with the usual coarse, rough, brownish bark. Whether or 'not 

 they derived any nourishment from this matrix to which they were 

 attached, it is impossible to say. 



All that I have ever seen, varying very much in size as they did, 

 seemed to have completed their growth. I have never seen them in 

 any intermediate state, or in such condition as to lead me to sup- 

 pose they were still increasing in size. 



Aiken, S. C. H. W. Ravenel. 



The Canadian Flora. — Botanizing in connection with the meet 

 ing of the American Association at Montreal.— Probably the pre- 

 vailing feeling among botanists at Montreal, from '" The States," wds 

 oneof surprise and disappointment that the Canadian flora was so 

 familiar. At Montreal I noticed nothing of interest either among 

 the weeds or the wild flowers. At Quebec, Euphrasia officinalis was 

 abundant on the ramparts. At Tadousac,' ^7«/^/rz/w nigrum and 

 Vaccinium Vitis-Idaea were growing at sea- level,the latter so abundant 

 that children were bringing in pails of the berries for sale. 



At^ Ha! Ha! Bay, where I had intended stopping if the flora 

 seemed attractive, the only unfamiliar plant was Senecio vulgaris as 

 an abundant weed. 



The meeting next year at Minneapolis will doubtless offer many 

 more botanical attractions to eastern botanists. 



Deaf-Mute College, Washington, D. C. J. W. Chickering, Jr. 



Teratological and Other Notes.— (From observations made dur- 

 mg 1882). — Claytonia Virginica; one specimen with 4 sepals, 9 

 petals, 9 stamens, i style and 4 stigmas. Another with 4 sepals, 10 

 petals, 8 stamens, 2 styles, and each with 3 stigmas. A third with 3 

 sepals, 8 petals, 6 stamens, style i and the stigmas deformed. 



Podophyllum peltatum; four specimens with a single peltate leaf, 

 bearmg a flower, the peduncle issuing at about the usual place from 

 a slight depression in the side of the stem. They did not all occur 

 in the sanie group of plants. Such variable forms are most easily 

 seen just before the leaves expand. Another specimen of the same, 

 otherwise normal, had about 6 sepals, some of them cleft almost to 

 the base; 9 petals, those on one side, as in case of the sepals, larger 

 than on the other; stamens 29; pistils 2, distinct to the base, one 

 about Ihnce larger than the other, their relative positions correspond- 

 ing to those of the larger and smaller sepals and petals 



