C6 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



plants do not keep well unmounted, especially 

 during a journey; the sooner they can be mounted 

 the better, for I am convinced that this helps to 

 preserve the colour. I have now some beautiful 

 blue Gentians, which were gathered on the BJgi, in 

 June, 1S?3, and. have retained their tint almost 

 perfectly ; these were in press I think only two, at 

 most three days, and were then transferred to my 

 book ; it is true they were not then fully dry, but I 

 do not think it is always necessary that they should 

 be before mouuting, as with a piece of blotting- 

 paper over them the process of drying still goes on. 

 Alehemillas, GnapJialiums, and other hard plant?, 

 may be put into the book with advantage the day 

 after being gathered, and their colour will be found 

 to be much more permanent than if allowed to be 

 all absorbed by the blotting-paper. The advantages 

 of this speedy mounting during a tour are manifold ; 

 besides those above mentioned, there is always much 

 more interest attaching to the flowers before they 

 have lost their first beauty; if they are kept un- 

 attached for several weeks, waiting to be mounted, 

 it is very probable that in many cases they are 

 sacrificed, whereas, by placing them at once in abook, 

 with the locality and date of finding, they furnish a 

 pleasant memorial of one's journey, and formed with 

 very little trouble, and without a great tax on one's 

 memory or time, while the much-needed space in 

 one's drying- case thus given is no little boon. Of 

 course, this plan is one only suited to amateurs (or 

 as an additional collection to the more scientific one 

 of the regular botanists), the objection being at 

 once felt, that where it is pursued, there is almost 

 an impossibility of classification. However, if the 

 object of the collection is to preserve reminiscences 

 of a summer trip in the Alps during holiday time, I 

 think the collector will be well rewarded, and may 

 leave his more scientific friends to pursue botany 

 as a business, with more method and more leisure. 

 It is sometimes well to empty out one's drying-case, 

 and let it dry thoroughly in the sun, or on a stove. 

 When flowers grow much clustered together, or 

 have very fleshy stems and leaves, it is always 

 advisable to remove the flowers, and. press them 

 quite separately in a pocket-book, or any odd volume 

 one may have at hand ; if not, the blossoms are 

 almost sure to be spoiled, while, with a little care, 

 there is no difficulty in building up the plant again 

 in a perfectly natural manner, when ready to be 

 mounted. It is interesting to obtain, if possible, 

 all the parts of a plant, including the root and seeds, 

 as only a very partial knowledge can be gained from 

 the flower and leaf alone, these only being often all 

 that is to be found in amateur collections. At the 

 poverty and meagreness of these I am sometimes 

 surprised ; but I think decided improvements may 

 be obtained by attending to the valuable hints of 

 Mr. Howse, and to the above suggestions.— J/. T. S. 



Flehr-de-Lis.— Can any reader of Science- 

 Gossip explain why this flower became such a 

 universal favourite as it is, and always has been, m 

 churches, both ancient and modern, and elsewhere ? 

 We find it not only in churches but in heraldry, 

 armorial bearings, crests, &c. ; it is also a common 

 pattern for papering walls, especially in parsonage 

 houses; it is also a public-house sign as the 

 " Fiower-de-Luce," the name given by old English 

 writers. The name Lis is evidently a misnomer, as 

 every one knows the Fleur-de-Lis is always repre- 

 sented as an Iris, and bears no resemblance to a 

 Lily, although several of the Lily tribe are in France 

 called Fleur-de-lis ; it has been said, however, that 

 the word lis is a contraction for Louis, because the 

 Fleur-de-lis was worn by the kiugs (Louis) of 

 France as a cognizance in the wars, and originally 

 called " Flenv-de- Lotus " (or by contraction " lis"). 

 It may, perhaps, have been chosen by the French 

 priesthood not only as the emblem of France, but out 

 of reverence for Saint Louis, the ninth French king 

 of that name. The word Luce certainly comes 

 nearer to Louis than lis. The Iris has also been 

 called Lis de Saint Bruno, and probably after other 

 saints also, which may account for its introduction 

 as a church ornament in the middle ages. The 

 Fleur-de-lis forms part of our royal arms, and was 

 probably introduced into England by the Dukes of 

 Normandy, or by the subsecpient monarchs of Great 

 Britain, who were styled " kings of Great Britain, 

 France, and Ireland." Loudon says the name of 

 Iris was given by Theophrastus, Dioscorides, and 

 Pliny, from the variety of its colours, and that,, 

 according to Plutarch, the word Iris signified in 

 ancient Egyptian tongue eye, the eye of heaven. — 

 T. B. W., Brighton. 



The Germinating Power of Seeds. — M. 

 Bottger states that a moderately concentrated solu- 

 tion of caustic soda or potash promotes the germi- 

 nating power of seeds to an extraordinary degree. 

 If a handful of common coffee-berries are shaken up 

 in a tumbler with a weak solution of caustic potash, 

 snow-white shoots, one or two millimetres in length, 

 will appear, often within the space of two or three 

 hours. 9 



The Glastonbury Thorn. — My descendant of 

 the true tree was full of buds almost bursting before 

 Christmas, but the frosts of the joyous season of 

 this year completely killed some of these early 

 bunches of flowers. However, the fine warm 

 weather we have experienced for the last three 

 weeks has at the present time brought an abundance 

 of buds nigh unto bursting. I have ere now had 

 some well-formed bunches of flowers from this tree 

 fully opened on my dinner-table on our modern 

 Christmas-day ; but usually when it flowers so early 

 the flowers are somewhat ragged aud imperfect. It 



