134 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



I find one many-flowered stem with eight flowerets 

 and buds, the length varying from | inch to 2§ 

 inches from the parent stem. 



In several cases of the variety of P. acaulis, 

 passing to P. elatior (perhaps the P. officinali-vul- 

 garis, plates 1132, 1133, of English Botany, third edi- 

 tion : see Science Gossip, Oct. 1867, p. 235), I 

 have seen umbels of flowerets, each of which had 

 its inflorescence on a stalk of three or four inches 

 from the parent stem ; and I have also seen, in 

 addition to these umbels, separate stalks proceed- 

 ing at right angles from the parent stem, at an inch 

 or even two inches below the furcation to form the 

 umbel. 



The bearing of this question on the evolution 

 hypothesis of Mr. Darwin, as well as the import- 

 ance of the principle to certain remarks which 

 I have myself ventured to offer in reference to 

 Xenogenesis (see Medical Times and Gazette) 

 " Polymorphism or Xenogenesis in Disease ;" and a 

 paper in the May (187 J) number of Month!)/ Micro- 

 scopical Journal on " Transmutation of Porm "), 

 lead me to hope that you will see sufficient interest 

 in this specimen to give it insertion in your valuable 

 journal. 



It seems to me that if the principle of evolution 

 be allowed; it must of necessity create a' perfect 

 revolution in the habit of classification of nature 

 such as has been considered right since the reign of 

 Cuvier over Natural History. It will also smooth 

 the way to unravel much that is now very obscure, 

 and render the system of nature much more intelli- 

 gible, and develop the unity of creation ; or as our 

 Poet-Laureate expresses it, — 



" The ear of man cannot hear, and the eye of man cannot 

 see, 

 But if we could hear and see this vision — Were it not 



HE. 



Metcalfe Johnson, M.E.C.S.E. 



I inclose a drawing of an oxlip presenting an 

 interesting deviation from the ordinary mode of 

 inflorescence. The plant is, I think there can be 

 no doubt, a hybrid between a primrose {Primula 

 vulgaris) and a cowslip (P. veris), and not, as I 

 believe the plants popularly called oxlips frequently 

 are, a developed primrose. It was discovered at 

 Sherborne, Dorset, in a coppice where the under- 

 wood had been recently cut, within thirty yards of a 

 meadow where there were numbers of cowslips, the 

 coppice itself abounding in primroses. The plant 

 resembles a primrose in shape of leaves, form of 

 calyx and of corolla, except that the latter is not 

 quite so large, nor so flat or salver-shaped, as in an 

 ordinary primrose; in colour, and particularly in 

 smell, the flowers closely resemble cowslips. The 

 most noticeable feature, however, is the mode of 

 inflorescence. When the plant was gathered, there 

 were the remains of two fiower-stems at the base, 



these having been to all appearance single-flowered 

 scapes ; between these rises a stout peduncle 

 bearing a large umbel (larger than in sketch) at its 

 summit, and in addition to this two single pedicels 

 and one pair of pedicels at various distances below, 

 the flowers borne on all being alike. The peduncle, 

 though a stout one, is not more so than usual in a 

 gross-growing plant, and there are no signs of 

 striation or torsion in any part, as would be the 

 case, I think, if it were an instance of fasciation or 

 union of two or more stems. 



My own explanation of the case is, that this 

 peculiar and handsome deviation from the ordinary 

 form arises from a redundancy of vegetative power 

 in the plant occasioning a partial proliGcation of the 

 inflorescence, the racemose condition arising from 

 the umbel being, as it were, drawn out, and the 

 intervals between the pedicels abnormally 

 developed. I should like to hear the opinion of 

 others of your readers. P. J. TVarner. 



Winchester. 



These communications and the sketches that 

 accompanied them were submitted to Mr. Robert 

 Holland, who has devoted much attention to the 

 subject, and he submits the following observa- 

 tions : — 



I return you the two papers on oxlips ; I do not 

 think there is very much that is new in Mr. John- 

 son's paper. The two points of .difference from 

 other oxlips which he considers so remarkable, 

 namely, the difference of form and size in the florets, 

 and the difference of colour, are not unlikely to be 

 traced to the fact of the smaller and lighter-coloured 

 florets having expanded in water after being gathered. 

 The result is what always takes place when flowers 

 expand in water; but one should scarcely judge 

 without seeing the flowers themselves. And again, 

 it is only reasonable to expect that florets in the 

 middle of a large bunch will be robbed of nutriment 

 by the outsiders, and will come out smaller and 

 weaker. Now I come to think of it, possibly this 

 may be one amongst other reasons why we so often 

 find outside florets so much larger than the inner 

 ones in many plants, such as Viburnum Opulus, some 

 of the Hydrangeas, &c, and ray florets larger than 

 disc florets in so many of the Compositcc ; and may 

 even, perhaps, explain the irregularity of form in 

 the florets of the Umbellifera, where the petals 

 pointing outwards are generally larger than those 

 which point inwards, as also in Iberis. 



If the fact (?) which Mr. Johnson mentions of 

 cow-dung turning primroses crimson be proven, it 

 is interesting. It is a bit of Yorkshire folk-lore ; 

 but I am inclined to think the real explanation is 

 that cow-dung intensifies colour, but that the prim- 

 rose to be worked upon must have had a pink tinge 

 to begin with. 



