141 



Ranunculus bulbosusj a plant in which all the flowers were at first 

 double, without stamens or pistils; later, the axis was prolonged in 

 each about two inches, and, at its extremity, produced a second 

 similar flower. 



Linaria Caftadensis; a marked case of fasciation, the stem broadly 



flattened and about three-sixteenths of an inch wide. Collected at 

 Hammonton, N. J. 



Erigeron strigosum having the florets of the heads altered, each 

 producing a secondary head with jointed pedicels that bore a leafy 

 involucre just beneath the joints. The ray-flowers were more con- 

 spicuously altered, but this was probably owing only to their earlier 

 development. 



Verbena urticaefolia altered similarly to the last. This and the 

 preceding are certainly curious cases of prolification. 

 Ilysanthes gratioloiiles fruiting cleistogamously. 

 Cirsiunt lanceolatum, — In Bulletin No. 4 of the current 

 volume, Mr. W. E. Stone queries respecting a white-flowered form of 

 this plant reported by me last year. I would state that it was a 

 fully-developed specimen as regards size, etc. No plant of that 

 species has appeared at the same place this season, 



A hybrid Verbascum, found over half a mile from the one reported 

 last year, seems to vary more toward F". Lychnitis, I suspect as that 

 one was growing in a group of V. Blattaria the latter was the female 

 parent, while this one, found in a group of F. Lychnitis^ had, on the 

 contrary, the last as female parent- I also observed a V, Lychniiis 

 having the branches of the panicle terminating in a rosette of leaves 

 like those of the stem, but smaller. 



Concordville, Pa. William Trimble. 



Botanical Notes. — Dimorphic Leaves of Aquatic Plants, — In the 

 Comptes Rendus oi the Academic des Sciences (T. xcv., p. 487), a 

 note by Mr. E. Mer is published which throws some light on the 

 curious dimorphic leaves of aquatic Ranunculi. He considers that 

 as the petioles of submerged leaves elongate, while the contrary is 

 the case with the floating leaves, it is probable that the petiole ab- 

 sorbs the nutritive matter to the detriment of the limb, the sub- 

 merged leaves not producing starch and not being capable of trans- 

 piration. This does not apply to sessile leaves, since in them there 

 is no disturbance of the nutritive balance, the dimensions only of 



the leaf being lessened. 



Chlorophyll. — The investigations of Pringsheim on the nature and 

 mode of formation of chlorophyll have been gone over^ by A. B. 

 Frank {fide Jour. Micr. Soc.^ ), and among other interesting results 

 arrived at he concludes that the change of color of leaves in autumn 

 is due to the disappearance of the protoplasm of the cells, in con- 

 sequence of which the chlorophyll grains come in contact with the 

 acid cell-sap, the result being the change of the green color into yel- 

 lowish green or yellow, followed by the separation of oily drops of 

 hypochlorin. The same change takes place in fruits and also in 



leaves which become yellow from want of light. Wiesner regards 

 the protection of chlorophyll from injury as one of the functions of 

 vegetable protoplasm. 



