42 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Feb. 1, 1866. 



BOTANY. 



The Eeast of Cherries.— There is a feast 

 celebrated at Naumburg, called tbe "Eeast of 

 Cherries," in which troops of children parade the 

 streets with green boughs, ornamented with cherries, 

 to commemorate a triumph obtained in the follow- 

 ing maimer. In 1432 the Hussites threatened the 

 city of Naumburg with immediate destruction, 

 when one of the citizens, named Wolf, proposed 

 that all the children in the city, from seven to four- 

 teen years of age, should be clad in mourning, and 

 sent as supplicants to the enemy. Procopius Nasus, 

 chief of the Hussites, was so touched with this 

 spectacle, that he received the young supplicants, 

 regaled them with fruits, and promised them to 

 spare the city. The children returned crowned with 

 leaves, holding cherries, and crying, " Victory! "— 

 Phillips's " Fruits of Great Britain?' 



Plants Within Plants.— In one of the recent 

 numbers of the Comptes Rendus, M. Trecul gives an 

 account of some curious observations showing that 

 plants sometimes are formed within the cells of 

 existing ones. He considers that the organic matter 

 of certain vegetable cells can, when undergoing 

 putrefaction, transform itself into new species, 

 which differ entirely from the species in which they 

 are produced. In the bark of the elder, and in 

 plants of the potato and stone-crop order, he found 

 vesicles full of small tetrahedral bodies containing 

 starchy matter, and he has seen them gradually 

 transformed into miuute plants by the elongation 

 of one of their angles— Popular Science Review. 



Dr. Camille Montagne— We regret to hear of 

 the death of this eminent French botanist, at the 

 age of 82. How he deserves to be remembered by 

 the botanical world may be gathered from the fact 

 that his " Sylloge," which contains the results of his 

 labours to within ten years of his death, includes 

 1,6S4 species of cryptogamic plants first described 

 and introduced by himself. 



Reaction of Iodine in Lichens and Eungi. 

 —Dr. W. Nylander has shown that the application 

 of an aqueous solution of Iodine affords a very useful 

 aid in the examination and determination of Lichens, 

 especially the inferior ones. By a chemical reaction 

 the solution produces a change of colour either in 

 the cjelatina hymenea, or the spores, or the theca:, 

 or the thallus. This reaction is a colouration of 

 these parts, either of a blue colour, or of a vinous 

 red (as in Agyrinm ruftm, Fr.) ; or, if at first a blue 

 is produced, it almost immediately changes in some 

 instances into a vinous red. If the reaction does 

 not take place, the parts remain simply colourless or 

 become of a yellow tinge, similar to the colour of 

 the solution itself. This reaction is constant ; and 

 although no reliance can be placed on it in the way 

 of an isolated character, still it is highly useful as a 



valuable and unfailing confirmatory one, when com- 

 bined with others, either external or internal. Such 

 a chemical difference, however, indicates an organic 

 difference worthy of investigation, and which might 

 otherwise be overlooked. This chemical reaction 

 occurs just the same, whether the specimen of the 

 Lichen be recently or long since gathered. But the 

 same is not always the case in Eungi; for Dr. 

 Nylander gathered near Helsingfors, in Finland, a 

 specimen of Teziza Polytrichii, Schum., which per- 

 fectly agreed with the figure in "Flora Danica" 

 (t. 1,916, fig. 1), in which the cjelatina hymenea, in a 

 living state became intensely blue with the solution 

 of Iodine. But on examining the same specimen 

 two years afterwards, the Iodine produced no re- 

 action, the gelatina hymenea remaining colourless, 

 or only becoming yellowish. Such a singular 

 difference arising from desiccation Dr. Nylander has 

 never observed before or elsewhere, nor can he 

 assign any reason why, in a dried and aged state, the 

 chemical nature of the thalamium should become 

 changed. In many species of the genus Peziza, the 

 cjelatina hymenea becomes blue with Iodine. In P. 

 cochleata, Huds., and P. violacea, Pers., it does so, 

 and the thecse more intensely so at their extreme 

 apices. In other species the thecae alone, especially 

 at the apices, are turned blue, as in P. fir ma, Pers., 

 P.plumbea, Fr., P.jitncigena, Nyl.yP. undella, Er., 

 P. cerea, Sow., P. repanda, Wahlenb., and in many 

 others, thus manifesting that the nature of Fungi 

 differs from that of Lichens. In a letter recently 

 received from Dr. Nylander, he has kindly furnished 

 the proper formula for the solution, viz. :— 1 grain 

 of Iodine and 3 grains of Iodide of Potash. Dissolve 

 these in 6 oz. of distilled water, and filter for use. 

 The solution should be kept from the light in a black 

 glass-bottle, or in one covered with paper. In using 

 it, it is sufficient to apply a drop to the edge of the 

 thin glass covering the dissection, under>hich it will 

 diffuse itself in the water containing the object. — 

 Rev. W. A. Leighton, in Ann. Nat. History. 



Uses of the Nipa Palm.— Malay and Dyak 

 houses are raised on piles, varying in height from 

 three to six feet. The walls are of wood, or more 

 frequently of ataps, a species of thatch made from 

 the leaves of the Nipa Palm. This tree supplies 

 half the necessaries of life to the natives of the Ear 

 East. It grows in large fields upon the water's edge, 

 and thrusts out its leaves or branches twenty feet 

 in length, like a huge fern, from the root. These 

 leaves, when young, are an excellent vegetable ; and 

 when old, are woven into thatch. Dried, they make 

 cigarettes, matting, and hats ; from the root, sugar 

 or salt is extracted, according to the process — for 

 the Malays use their magnificent sugar-canes solely 

 as a sweetmeat. In addition to the other uses of 

 this noble palm, I have seen a native boat's crew 

 hoist Nippa leaves as sails.— The Household. 



