HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



165 



ago, not an example could be seen. Ranunculus 

 parviflorus occurred in plenty. Myosotis collina 

 studded the ground with its blue blossoms, and not 

 far off M. versicolor also grew with Aira pracox. 

 Plantago coronopus was one of the most abundant 

 plants on the common, which is fringed on one side 

 by the curious trailing Torilis nodosa, while later on in 

 the season Bupleurum temiissimum is also to be 

 found here. Passing towards the shore Lepidium 

 campestre was conspicuous, and a small pool was 

 completely mantled with white by the flowers of 

 Ranunculus Baudotii. An hour's ramble was thus well 

 repaid, on a lovely spring afternoon. — F. H. Arnold. 



spirit, one part ? If so, I should be glad to hear what 

 their experiences have been. The experiences I had 

 were most disastrous. The recipe said, for plants 

 with fleshy leaves twelve to eighteen hours will be 

 sufficient. So I put some Orchis musculo- in the 

 solution, and in twelve hours took them out ; the 

 effect was peculiar, the leaves were flabby, and of a 

 dirty yellowish-green colour, and the flowers had a 

 little colour and shape left, but I defy any botanist 

 to determine what species they belong to. Thinking 

 I might have left them in too long, I tiied some 

 Cochlearia Anglica, and left it in forty minutes ; on 

 taking out, the leaves were flabby, and of the same 



K - 



Fig- 73- — Melon-seedling found in a water-melon when first cut open. — Sholapur, India, 1888. 



Lychnis dioica. — I have just noticed a singular 

 instance of change of colour, in certain specimens of 

 Lychnis dioica, which bore pure white flowers last 

 summer ; have their petals this summer of a pale red 

 colour, and do not appear to be quite as large in size 

 as the white ones. The plant grows in a well- 

 sheltered spot not far from the sea coast. — Geo. Rees. 



Natural Grafting. — I saw rather a peculiar 

 thing the other day — a large branch had broken off 

 a box-tree, and in falling, had stuck in a fork of the 

 tree, and there the branch is growing. In falling, 

 the branch must have bruised through the bark and 

 the sap run from the tree into the branch. It has 

 evidently been there some years, as the branch is 

 quite grown over in the fork. — E. C. Pope, South 

 Yalgogrin, N. S. Wales. 



Unusual Case of Germination. — I am sending 

 you a sketch of a melon seedling (Fig. 73). I found it 

 growing on the pulp inside a very large water-melon. 

 It seemed quite happy in the dark ; there was room 

 for it to stretch, as these melons are rather hollow. 

 The two leaves were a bright, tender green. One or 

 two other seeds were just beginning to sprout. The 

 sketch is life-size. — Amy Hensley, Sholapur, India. 



Preserving the Colours of Plants. — Have 

 any of the readers of Science-Gossip tried a process 

 for preserving the colours of plants for the Herbarium 

 recommended in the ' Annals of Botany,' and con- 

 sisting of sulphurous acid, three parts ; methylated 



dirty yellow-green colour as those of the orchis. 

 I then tried some flowers of Scilla nutans, and in ten 

 minutes they had lost every vestige of colour. Is this 

 preserving the colours of plants? If so, I would 

 rather stick to the old style of drying. There is also 

 a process with salicylic acid and methylated spirit. 

 Do any of your readers know anything of it? — A. E. 

 Lomax. 



Ustilago Receptaculorum. — Could any reader 

 of Science-Gossip favour me with a fresh specimen 

 of the goat's-beard smut during the present summer ? — 

 Charles B. Plowright, 7 King Street, King's Lynn. 



GEOLOGY, &C. 



The Glaciation of the Isle of Man. — In 

 Science-Gossip for April last (p. 73) is an article 

 entitled " In the Isle of Man," by Dr. P. Q. Keegan, 

 in which several remarkable theories and statements 

 as to matters geological are set forth. The author 

 makes merry at the expense of geologists because, 

 forsooth, they ascribe certain boulder-deposits to 

 glacial action, and says, "the idea of these outlying, 

 heterogeneous masses of rocks being gradually 

 pushed up from below by some lateral or other 

 pressure, seems never to have tickled their heads." 

 It always appears to me unwise to suppose oneself 

 superior to scientific authorities without first carefully 

 examining the evidence and the existing theories. 



