HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



133 



BRITISH BUTTERFLIES * 



WE have already noticed Mr. Newman's "Illus- 

 trated History of British Moths," and be. 

 fore us lies the companion volume of " British 

 Butterflies." The author is such a veteran ento- 

 mologist, such an experienced writer, so careful an 

 observer, and so apt at plain teaching, that he needs 

 no commendation from us. Let it suffice to say 



that this volume is fully equal to its companion, in 

 all that author, engraver, and publisher could do 

 to render it. attractive and useful ; and we recom- 

 mend it especially to all our youthful readers 

 who are ambitious of becomiug entomologists ; 

 and, secondarily, to all adults who, whether ento- 

 mologists or not, desire to possess the most 

 characteristic woodcuts of British Butterflies ever 

 executed. It has been supposed that figures of 

 butterflies possess little value as teachers without 

 the aid of colour. Here is a silent rebuke to such 

 a supposition, for each figure is a " speaking like- 

 ness," and we hope that the volume will obtain the 

 success it so well deserves. 



Fig. 08. Figures of Rothlieb's Marsh Ringlet, Ccenonymp/ia 

 Davus, var. Rothliebii ; one upper and five under sides; 

 kindly lent by the publisher. 



* "An Illustrated Natural History of British Butterflies." 

 By Edward Newman, F.I-.S. London: William Tweedie. 



PRIMROSES AND COWSLIPS. 



THE following communications on this subject 

 have been received during the month : — 



Prom the interest you have taken in the prim- 

 rose, cow's-lip, and ox-lip, I venture to offer a few 

 remarks on a specimen which came under my notice 

 last week. 



The flower was an umbel of eighteen flowerets, 

 fifteen opened and three buds. These were sepa- 

 rable into three sets of six each, which may be 

 called outer, middle, and inner. 



The limb of the corolla was concave in the inner 

 six, less concave in the middle, and flat in the 

 outer. 



The diameter of the extended limb of corolla 

 was T \ of an inch, U in., and if in. respectively. 

 The colour of the inner and middle set was pale 

 primrose, while that of the six outer was what the 

 ladies call " cuir " colour. 



The length from the origin of furcation in the 

 inner set was 1| inch, and that of the outer set 

 If inch. The position of the stamina, which varies 

 sometimes in Primula veris, was uniformly in all 

 these flowers halfway down the tube or unguis 

 of the corolla. The points of difference thus from 

 true-bred plants of P. veris, P. acaulis, and P. elatior 

 consist mainly in the variety of forms in the same 

 umbel, aud. the altered colour of the corolla in the 

 outer six. 



In examining cultivated, semi-cultivated, and 

 wild plants of this class, we find a tendency in 

 P. 'acaulis to develop many-flowered stalks from 

 single-flowered ; and, when nourished by pure cow- 

 dung, the colour passes by slow degrees to deep 

 crimson. In a specimen now before me, the colour 

 is deep crimson, the outer stalks single-flowered, 

 and the centre stalks (yet in the bud state) many- 

 flowered, one having four and another five flowerets. 

 This is passing to become a polyanthus. 



In P. veris the corolla increases in size, and be- 

 comes paler in hue, as if resembling P. acaulis. In 

 another plant before me of P. acaulis of a pale red, 



