92 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



(a) sun, (b) diffused dajlight, and (c) darkness. 

 2. Rapidity of .ascent in branches cut off in the 

 dark. 3. Rapidity of ascent in branches with the 

 cortical tissue removed. 4. Rapidity of ascent in 

 stems deprived of their leaves. 5. Rapidity of 

 absorption of lithium when applied at apex of the 

 branch ; and 6. Rapidity of ascent when fluid was 

 taken up under pressure of mercury, intended to 

 represent the root-pressure of the plant. — This 

 report was also referred to Council for publication. 



A Large Sundew.— Mrs. Mary Treat gives, in 

 the American Naturalist for December, ]873, a 

 remarkable contribution to our knowledge of the 

 sensitiveness of the leaves of the Sundew, her ex- 

 periments being chiefly made on the large American 

 species Dro&era filiformis, the leaves of which 

 capture and kill moths and butterflies two inches 

 across. Her observations are in accordance with 

 those already recorded on English species, that the 

 motion of the glands is excited only by organic 

 substances, or if for a very short time by mineral 

 substances, that the excitement passes off almost 

 immediately. The most astonishing of her obser- 

 vations is, however, that when living flies are 

 pinned at a distance of half an incli from the apex 

 of the leaf, the leaf actually bends towards the 

 insect until the glands reach it and suck its juices. 



Snowdrop {Galanthus nivalis). — I have just 

 seen one of the most magnificent exhibitions of 

 this lovely plant it has ever been my lot to meet 

 with. The pretty village of Over Compton, on 

 the borders of Dorsetshire, has long been cele- 

 brated as the habitat of the Snowdrop, as it occurs 

 there in several localities. The first in which 1 

 observed it was in a bosky little dell overshadowed 

 by trees and not in its usual orchard station ; but 

 the grand show I would now describe is in an 

 orchard, and the greater part of its surface, but 

 more especially under the hedges, was carpeted 

 with the fresh green leaves, ornamented with the 

 pure white bells of the Snowdrop, and in greater 

 profusion than 1 liave ever before met with, even 

 were all its stations added together. If this plant 

 be really a native, I take it that Compton is just 

 the place it might have been established in, as its 

 sloping banks and well-wooded dingles would be 

 just such as might be supposed to favour the 

 growth of this early spring favourite, 1 have seen 

 it somewhere stated that the double garden snow- 

 drop on being left wild in the fields for a few years 

 becomes single-flowered, and, on the contrary, if 

 wild examples are transferred to the garden, they 

 in a little time become double ; but this is contrary 

 to our experience, as we have known double ex- 

 amples in the field and single ones in the garden 

 maintain their characters for as many as forty 

 years.— ^., Bradford Abbas, Feb. 24. 



Veronica. Buxbaumii {Buxbaum's Speedwell). — 

 Our arable fields, thanks to the bright sunshine of 

 the last few days, are now quite gay with this 

 agrarian weed. Perhaps no interloper has spread 

 so rapidly in a short time as this ; it is now, indeed, 

 more constant in the field than was formerly the 

 V. agrestis, which it seems to be entirely supplant- 

 ing. Still, the latter holds its position in the 

 garden, where the former is seldom met with. — B., 

 Bradford Abbas. 



Buds on Roots.— If W. G. Piper will procure a 

 young specimen of Saxifraga granulata, and care- 

 fully examine the bulbs, he will, I think, notice that 

 they are collections of thick succulent pink scales, 

 or appressed leaves, more or less navicular in 

 shape, arranged around a common centre, and 

 bearing buds in the axils. I do not know how 

 Bentley defines a bulb, but, according to Balfour 

 (Class Book, pp. 68 — 70), it is " a short subterra- 

 nean axis, covered with fleshy scales containing 

 succulent cells ;" and further, " these scales are 

 equivalent to leaves, and produce buds at the part 

 where they join the axis." If we consider all the 

 requisites for a bulb to be here laid down, it would 

 appear that the'swellings of S. granulata are really 

 bulbs, of which the scales are not very closely 

 applied. Assuredly, we are quite as correct in 

 calling these bulbs as we are in terming the swelling 

 at the h&'&Qoi Ra)iuncul us bulbosus a conn (Lindley), 

 or " kind of bulb" (Bentham). Upon referring to 

 John's "Plowers of the Fields," I notice he gets 

 out of the difficulty by describing them as " downy 

 bulb-like tubers," though I cannot understand how 

 the term tuber is here applicable. I should very 

 much like to hear the opinions of other botanists 

 upon this subject, and especially to learn if bulbs 

 are really confined to Monocotyledons. — H. Mar- 

 shall Ward. 



GEOLOGY. 



The Origin of the Lake Basins of Cum- 

 berland.— J. Clifton Ward, F.G.S., has read a 

 paper on the above subject at the Geological Society. 

 After referring to the fact that the question of the 

 origin of lake-basins cannot be satisfactorily dis- 

 cussed unless the depth of the lakes and the heights 

 of the mountains are brought before the mind's eye in 

 their natural proportions, the author sketched out 

 the physical geography of Derwentwater, Basseu- 

 thwaite, Butterraere, Crummock, and Loweswater, 

 and pointed out what must have been their original 

 size and shape before they were filled up to the 

 extent they now are. These lakes were not moraine- 

 dammed, but true rock basins. The belief that the 

 present Lake district scenery was the result of the 

 sculpturing of atmospheric powers, such as we see 



