HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



279 



a sufficient protection against this, while the weak, 

 brittle upper portions, becoming partially erect, have 

 to be protected against the heat from above, and the 

 effects of the radiation from the hot stones below. 

 As authorities that plants are protected to some 

 extent against heat, I venture to quote Sir J. D. 

 Hooker's invaluable " Science Primer on Botany," 

 p. 103 : " Hairs .... are protections against wet, 

 cold, and the effects of drought on the subjacent 

 tissue." In "Flowers and their Unbidden Guests," 

 again (p. 49, note) : " The viscid substances with 

 which parts of plants are coated are not always 

 intended to act as a protection to the flowers from 

 unprofitable visits. The viscid coating of many 

 young leaves, especially in plants whose flowers are 

 nectarless, and whose pollen is dusty (populus, alnus, 

 betula, juglans), protects these leaves while still 

 young from evaporation and desiccation, acting as a 

 layer of varnish.'' Sir John Lubbock, in his work 

 on "Flowers, Fruits, and Leaves," pp. 135, 136, 

 says : " Mr. Taylor has pointed to the power which, 

 as Tyndall has shown, the spray of perfume possesses 

 to bar out the passage of heat rays, and has suggested 

 that the emission of essential oils from the leaves of 

 many plants which live in hot climates may serve to 

 protect themselves against the intensely dry heat of 

 the desert sun." 



May not, then, this sticky secretion on Stellaria 

 aquatica be in like manner a protection against 

 evaporation ? The stems are very weak and very 

 brittle, and when the sun is shining a very large 

 amount of moisture must be drawn from the leaves ; 

 and it would seem almost impossible for the stems 

 (small as they are) to convey a sufficient quantity to 

 the leaves to prevent them from being dried up if 

 they had not some protection against too rapid 

 evaporation. Those leaves, too, which are situated 

 below the limits of the glandular hairs are the first 

 to turn brown and die off, while the plants are still 

 flowering profusely and the other leaves are perfectly 

 green and fresh. If protection against insects alone 

 were necessary, this is provided for by the very 

 glandular peduncles and calices, and there would 

 have been but little necessity to carry the viscidity 

 for any distance down the stem. 



Among the other plants growing on the same 

 small island, Linaria minor, Desf., Tanacetum vul- 

 garis, Linn., and Vcrbascum virgatum, With., are 

 very glandular-hairy ; Mentha saliva, Linn., is hairy ; 

 Galeopsis Tetrahit, Linn., is hispid ; Scutellaria 

 galcriculata, Linn., is puberulous, and Airiplex has- 

 tata, Linn., is mealy. Most of these are still 

 (October) flourishing, but several species of rumex 

 and polygonum are now quite burnt up. 



I hope in time to make some further observations 

 upon this species ; and, in calling attention to it, I 

 need hardly say that I shall be most pleased to 

 receive the opinions of more able and experienced 

 observers upon this subject. 



In conclusion, I would add that the viscid stems of 

 this plant are undoubtedly a protection to the flowers 

 against creeping insects, which, after crawling up the 

 stems for a short distance, have their legs caught 

 beyond hope of recovery among the sticky hairs. 

 How frequent this is may be understood by the fact 

 that it is almost impossible to pick a stem without 

 finding the dead bodies of several insects attached to 

 it, and looking like little black spots here and there. 

 Nature in this case attains two ends (and probably 

 more) by the same means. 



Arthur W. Weyman. 



Ludlow, Salop. 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



We beg to call attention to a paper on almost a 

 new subject both for naturalists and collectors, viz., 

 that by T. D. A. Cockerell, in the "Annals and 

 Mag. of Nat. History" for October (reprinted), on 

 "Slugs, chiefly in the Collection at the British 

 Museum." 



Miss E. A. Ormerod's second edition of a 

 "Manual of Injurious Insects," with method of 

 prevention and remedy for their attacks to food- 

 crops, forest trees, and fruit, is announced, and may 

 be had of W. Wesley, 28 Essex Street, Strand. 



We have received a reprint of Professor E. D. 

 Cope's remarkably interesting paper on " The 

 Homed Dinosauria of the Laramie " (illustrated). 



Messrs. W. Wesley and Son's "Natural History 

 and Scientific Book Circular" is to hand, No. 103. 

 It is one of the most interesting of all the book 

 catalogues we receive, and we confess a weakness 

 for them. 



Even more interesting and instructive (for there 

 are crisp and pithy little notes added) to lovers of 

 old books of all sorts and conditions, is Pickering 

 and Chatto's "Book-Lover's Leaflet," published 

 monthly. 



"The Monist," a new American monthly, con- 

 tains some capital papers by Romanes, Binet, Cope, 

 Carus, and other scientists. It is, in fact, an inter-* 

 national physiological and psychological magazine. 



We have received No. I, vol. iii., of "Insect 

 Life," edited by Dr. Riley and others. It is devoted 

 to the economy and life-habits of insects, especially 

 in their relation to agriculture in America. 



The second annual meeting of the Bedford 

 Amateur Natural History Society was held on 

 Thursday, October 30th. At the meeting all the 

 officers were re-elected, and Mr. J. Hamson was 

 elected vice-president. Votes of thanks were passed 

 to Dr. Crick for his kind services throughout the 



