20 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



BOTANY. 



Orchid P'lowers.— Lately whilst examining a 

 large series of orchids, I have been struck with the 

 fact that several of our British species run gradually 

 in a series, the one into the other ; notably is this the 

 case with Orchis pirpurea, Huds., O. militaris, L., 

 and O. Simia, Lam. I herewith give a sketch of 

 three specimens of the lips of the above species to 

 show this gradual transition. Hooker, in the "Stu- 

 dent's Flora," makes O. Simia, Lam., into a sub- 

 species of O, militaris, I have cultivated all three 



r Fig. 19. 



Fig. 20. 



Fig. 18. — Orchis purfiurea. Fig. 19. — Orchis miUiaris. 



Fig. 120. — Orchis Simia. 



species,_ growing them in strong loamy soil, and I 

 will defy anyone to point out any strong distinctive 

 character of permanent value whereby they may be 

 distinguished as species. After careful comparison, 

 I am compelled to come to the conclusion, that the 

 only marks are as follows : Orchis purpurea, Huds. 

 Lip rough with tufts of red hairs. This is the O. 

 fusca, Jacq., and O. militaris, Sm., in Eng. Bot. 16. 

 Fig. 18. O. militaris, L. Sepals acuminate. Lip 

 rough with scattered red hairs. E. B. S. 2675. Fig. 19, 

 O. Simia, Lam. Lip generally quite smooth. It is 

 the O. tcphrosanthos of E. B. 1873, fig. 20.— James 

 F. Robinson. 



Clover in New Zeal.\nd. — It has been stated in 

 all books dealing with the fertilisation of flowers, 

 that the red clover does not bear seed in New Zealand, 

 owing to the absence of humble bees. Mr. J. B. 

 Armstrong, of the Christchurch Botanic Garden, has 

 recently contradicted this statement, and shown that 

 there arc four varieties of red clover in New Zealand, 

 all of which produce seeds of good germinating power. 

 One variety is partly self fertile and partly self sterile. 

 The produce of those which have been grown in the 

 colony for several generations tend almost invariably 

 to become self-fertilising. Mr. Armstrong thinks 

 there is every reason to believe that the red clover is 

 there becoming modified in its structure, so as to 

 admit the visits of insects not known to visit it in 

 England, and that such modification tends to render 

 the plant self-fertilising, but at the same time enables 

 it to be improved in constitutional vigour by occasional 

 inter-crossing. 



Reproduction of the Zygnemace.^.— A paper 

 on this subject has just been read before the Linnean 

 Society by Mr. A. W. Bennett. Twenty-five years 

 ago Dr. Bary, and since then Wittrock, have 

 instanced what they thought were sexual differences 

 between the conjugating cells, Mr. Bennett has 

 directed his investigations chiefly to the genera 

 Spirogyra and Zygnema, and from these he supports 

 the opinions of the above-mentioned botanists. He 

 finds there is an appreciable difference of length and 

 diameter in the conjugating cells, that deemed the 

 female being the larger. He also finds that the 

 protoplasmic contents pass only in one direction, and 

 change first commences in the chlorophyll bands of 

 the supposed male cells, with accompanying con 

 traction of the protoplasmic material. 



The Flora of Socotra. — Professor Bayley- 

 Balfour, who was sent out purposely to study the 

 flora of this island, in a lecture upon it, shows that 

 the flora of a continental island, such as Socotra, is 

 in the main interesting in connection with the geo- 

 graphical distribution of plants, and the working out of 

 the history of their migrations over the face of the 

 globe. But in the flora of Socotra there are a number 

 of special features in individual plants well deserving 

 of attention. To summarise them, we may say the 

 flora of Socotra is that of a continental island, and 

 presents features of great antiquity. Relative pro- 

 portion of orders to genera, and of these to species, 

 is large. There are few annuals. It possesses much 

 individuality, and further exhibits three distinct 

 elements ; {a) of a dry parched region ; (/') of a moister 

 tropical region ; (<r) of a cooler and more temperate 

 region. Its affinities are essentially tropical, African, 

 and Asian, but the African element predominates, 

 and in the African element we find in great force the 

 features of the flora of the mountainous region of 

 Abyssinia, West Tropical Africa, and South Africa, 

 and also of Madagascar. This element of the flora, 

 too, is that of the higher regions of the island. The 

 flora of the dry region is the typical Arabo-Sahara. 

 The flora of the moister tropical region is that of 

 the old world tropics generally. There are only a 

 few Indian and American types in Socotra. 



A November Nosegay in Worcestershire. — 

 Groundsel, nipplewort, thistle, black knapweed, 

 buttercup, white dead nettle, charlock, sowthistle, 

 bramble, herb Robert, harebell, trailing dog-rose, 

 feverfew, chickweed, gorse, wild strawberry, wood 

 sage, tiny tare, bitter vetch, black medick, red clover, 

 hawkwced, potentilla, milfoil, fool's parsley, wood 

 avens, ragwort, red campion, black berry, devil's-bit, 

 scabious, foxglove, dock, cross-leaved heath, honey- 

 suckle, broom, daisy, pimpernel.— A'. D., Co/ton 

 Hackctt. 



