HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



141 



I noted carefully spun in the space of four hours three 

 distinct threads from two and a half to three inches 

 in length ; another spun two about three inches long 

 in about two hours and a half. Dr. Lukis states that 

 it took S. lacustrc three hours to spin a thread one 

 inch in length. This statement cannot apply gene- 

 rally to the Spharidce, as I have at least a dozen 

 separate observations recording threads of two and a 

 half to four inches, none of which took more than 

 seven hours to spin. — W. E. Collinge. 



BOTANY. 



"Monstrous" Hyacinths. — In your March 

 issue Mr. H. I. Perrett wants to know if 

 monstrosities in hyacinths are common. My only 

 reply is this, that if he wants monstrosities he has 

 only to buy a quantity of hyacinths and watch their 

 growth carefully. Last year one of my hyacinths 

 branched into two stems at the apex of the stalk, the 

 length of stalk being 3J inches to 4 inches. This 

 year, having a greater quantity of them, the 

 monstrosities are also more numerous — one 

 hyacinth with nine racemes. It is usual with 

 hyacinths that the florets at base should open first 

 (indefinite inflorescence), but with one of them the 

 florets at apex opened first and the lower ones last 

 (definite inflorescence), which gave the flower a 

 stunted appearance ; and other monstrosities could 

 be stated. Some of my hyacinths have had two 

 ovaries and two distinct styles (botanically six), and 

 numerous stamens, as I did not count them. In the 

 order LiliacecB there are six stamens, to which order 

 the hyacinth belongs. The only cause of these 

 monstrosities, from what I have been able to make 

 out, is too vigorous a growth at any particular part. 

 Mr. Perrett wants to know if it will appear again 

 next year. To this I say no, as all the vigour of the 

 bulb has been expended on this year's flowering, and 

 if it flowers at all it will be a very weakly one, 

 especially having been grown in water. If it had 

 been grown in soil, with proper treatment, perhaps he 

 would be able to have a medium-sized flower, as the 

 flower-bud is formed in the bulb the year previous to 

 its flowering, and so a great deal depends on before- 

 treatment as well as after-treatment ; and in the case 

 of a hyacinth grown in water, it has not the chance 

 of building up the material it has expended at flowering 

 time. — Elia G. Abdela. 



The Electric Light and Vegetation. — The 

 (influence of the electric light on vegetation has 

 manifested itself in a remarkable manner in the case 

 of the large lime trees on-the LeipzigerTlatz, Berlin. 

 On the branches of these trees which are opposite 

 the electric light, a few days ago, the development 

 of the new leaves had advanced considerably, whereas 

 on the other side, where the light does not strike 



upon the branches, the buds were only just beginning 

 to form. On one of the trees the difference is very 

 marked indeed. — H. Hayward. 



Gagea lutea. — This plant has been found at 

 Sitton (Dorset), the next parish to this. Hooker 

 names it as "local and rare"; J. C. Mansell-Pleydell, 

 in his "Flora of Dorsetshire," as very rare. He 

 records one locality for Dorset, and gives Somerset 

 and Wilts and Normandy as other counties where 

 recorded. Preston, "The Flowering Plants of Wilt- 

 shire," under name G. fasiailaris, gives two locali- 

 ties. The plant was in flower this year on the 

 13th of March at Sitton. I should be glad to hear 

 if any botanist has found G. lutea in the Mere 

 district of the county of Wilts. — Rro. Charles 

 F. IV. T. Williams, Zeals, Bath. 



" Illustrations of Vegetable Teratology." 

 — I do not know whether the following may be 

 strange enough to be noteworthy. The other day in 

 peeling an orange I noticed that its skin (a very thin 

 one) was irregularly covered with hard mound-like 

 projections. On cutting through one of these I 

 found it filled with a tough substance of the con- 

 sistency of glue, but quite tasteless — at least, to my 

 palate. It resembled crude turpentine in appearance, 

 and such I dare say it actually was. The masses were 

 about the size of split peas, and were lodged between 

 the pith and rind of the peel, swelling it to more than 

 twice its size elsewhere. There were upwards of a 

 dozen of them in all. The orange itself was fairly 

 sweet and juicy, but its partition membranes were 

 "leathery." I have saved some of the knobs. — 

 Huhvidgeon. 



GEOLOGY, &C. 



The Origin of the Basins of the Great 

 Lakes of America. — At a recent meeting of the 

 Geological Society an interesting paper on this 

 subject was read by Professor J. W. Spencer, 

 F.G.S., State Geologist of Georgia. From the 

 study of the hydrography of the American lakes, from 

 the discovery of buried] channels revealed by borings, 

 from the inspection of the glaciation of the lake- 

 region, the consideration of the late high continental 

 elevation, and the investigation of the deformation of 

 old water-levels, as recorded in the high-level 

 beaches, the explanation of the origin of the basins 

 of the Great Lakes becomes 'possible. The original 

 Erie valley drained into the extreme western end of 

 Lake Ontario — the Niagara river^being modern — by a 

 channel now partly buried beneath drift. Lake Huron, 

 by way of Georgian Bay, was a valley continuous 

 with that of Lake Ontario ; but between these two 

 bodies of water, for a distance of about ninety-five 

 miles, it is now buried beneath hundreds of feet of 

 drift. The old channel of this buried valley entered 



