HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



37 



Here, for example, we have a specimen of charlock 

 (Sinapis arvensis) in which almost every flower was 

 foliaceous, the sepals and petals being almost wholly 

 converted back into leaves. 



The wood anemone {A. nemorosa) is now in 

 flower, and a careful search will be almost certain to 

 reward the young botanist with examples further 

 proving the last stated fact. They will rind a speci- 

 men like the following, in which one of the leaf-like 

 tracts on the stem has been modified into a nearly 

 fully developed petal. 



Garden flowers are especially liable to fluctuating 



*'£■ 5 1 - — " Monttruus " growth of Peach Flower. 



changes. At one time we have petals converted 

 into green leaves — as in the well-known sport called 

 the " green rose." I knew a strain of this monstrosity 

 propagated by cuttings, in which every propagated 

 plant produced them, wholly or in part. Various 

 members of the Rosacea; are liable to the same floral 

 reversion to foliar conditions. The accompanying 

 illustration of a monstrous peach blossom is an 

 example. Not less interesting, viewed from the 

 point of view that all "freaks," "sports," "mon- 

 strosities," &c, are in reality nothing of the kind 

 (the very idea implies lack of wisdom on the part of 

 the Creator), but are reversions to former conditions 



Kia 



-Abnor.nal specimen of Wood Anemone. 



of some kind or another, is borne out by fig. 50, a 



garden variety of Ramincidus Asiaticus, in which we 



have a coloured or petal-like foliar organ resembling 



that in Anemone nemorosa. 



J. E. Taylor. 



ASTRONOMY. 

 By John Browning, F.R.A.S. 



THE annual meeting of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society was held on February 14th. Among 

 other matters, it was stated in the annual report that 

 six minor planets have been discovered during the 

 year. Seven new comets have been observed ; three 

 of these move in elliptic orbits. 



The report contains obituary notices of Mr. de la 

 Rue, Mr. Newall, Mr. Royston Pigott, Father 

 Perry, Professor Respighi, of Rome, and Professor 

 W. Temple, of Florence. The report refers to Pro- 

 fessor Spoerer's researches on sun-spots, which show 

 that a short time before they are at a minimum the 

 spots only appear in low latitudes ; at about the time 

 of minimum spots do not appear near the equator, 

 but another set of spots make their appearance in 

 high latitudes, then until the next minimum the 

 latitude of the spots becomes less, and at last the 

 spots only appear near the equator. 



Professor Vogel, of Potsdam, has published a 

 most interesting account of the results of observations 



