HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



2 37 



same stage in either mathematics or botany, (v.) The 

 form attached to the answer paper does not go before 

 the examiners, for, on the paper of questions it is 

 distinctly printed, "Your name is not given to the 

 examiners, and you are forbidden to write to them 

 about your answers." (vi.) The candidate's previous 

 highest success is asked for, I should say, for the 

 purpose of determining the amount of grant to be paid 

 for the candidate's present success, (vii.) Age and 

 profession have nothing to do with the examination, 

 but I do not think there is anything unusual in asking 

 one for these particulars, (viii.) No; each should 

 have an equal opportunity. I do not agree with 

 *' Inquirer " that the whole scheme of the Depart- 

 ment will become "a farce and a failure" should 

 his questions not have been answered. It is not in 

 the method of examination, nor in the honesty of the 

 same, that the Department is in fault, but in the 

 method by which it encourages the teaching of 

 science. It should not allow students to take up a 

 science until they have been grounded in the truths 

 that lead up to that science — thus, a knowledge of 

 physiology is indispensable to the study of hygiene, 

 and Professor Huxley himself says that many candi- 

 dates in physiology fail because they have no know- 

 ledge of chemistry or physics. A question in the 

 House of Commons could be asked with more 

 propriety on this Departmental stupidity than about 

 an individual failure in honours botany. —Chas. A. 

 I Vhatmore. 



The Sunflower. — Mr. Lett says : " If it were 

 the case that the sunflower every twenty-four hours 

 twisted its peduncle and brought its flower constantly 

 towards the sun, every sunflower in every garden 

 would be found facing in precisely the same direction, 

 a fallacy needing no refutation." The fallacy is 

 however not in the poetry but in the argument, which 

 would never have been used by any person fully 

 acquainted with the tendency of plants to vary, which 

 variableness affords a necessary basis for selection 

 whether natural or artificial. When Dr. Darwin 

 said that seeds yielded by flowers that had been self- 

 fertilised gave origin to plants less vigorous than those 

 which were cross-fertilised, he admitted that the 

 results of his experiments were not uniform, and that 

 he noticed some conspicuous exceptions. In like 

 manner, a phenomenon which has been observed in 

 sunflowers for many generations is none the less true 

 because it did not appear in the plants selected for 

 observation by Mr. Lett. It may be questioned if 

 the term peduncle can be rightly applied to the 

 flowering stem of the sunflower, on the top of which 

 the capitulum stands and which is indeed the central 

 axis of the plant bearing leaves up to the base of the 

 receptacle itself. Remarkable for its rigidity when 

 blown aside by a storm like that of the 28th August, 

 the roots of the plant are loosened in the ground, but 

 the stem in its lower part remains straight as a yard 



measure made of wood. The upper portion of the 

 stem being as flexible as the base is rigid, turns 

 towards the zenith, and assumes an erect attitude 

 whatever be the angle at which the lower portion of 

 the stem is inclined. If after this the plant be raised 

 and fixed to a support, the stem regains its rectitude 

 by straightening the bend made in its upper part. 

 This is of course providing that the raising of the 

 plant be done before the stem has lost its flexibility in 

 the part which had been bent. When the flowering 

 time approaches and the capitulum begins to incline 

 towards a lateral rather than a vertical aspect, its 

 inclination tends to follow the sun just as the summit 

 of a fallen plant turns up towards the zenith : this 

 inclination continues till the flexibility of the stem 

 ceases in its upper as it had previously ceased in its 

 lower part, and the entire plant becomes rigid. I 

 think Mr. Lett was unfortunate in his choice of the 

 largest flower-heads, as they would be most likely 

 soon to lose what flexibility they had and become 

 rigid. — John Gibbs. 



Carduus Setosus. — It may interest some of your 

 readers to hear that this variety of C. arvensis has 

 been found near Cirencester. Bentham mentions it 

 as having been found in the county of Fife. Does it 

 grow in other parts of Britain ? — K E. Z. 



"Annals of Botany." — The August number 

 of this valuable scientific serial contains the following 

 papers: — " Arceuthobium oxycedri" (with plate), by 

 T. Johnson ; " On the Development of the Aleurone- 

 Grains in the Lupin" (with plate), by A. B. Rendle ; 

 " On the Structure of Spongocladia, Aresch (Spon- 

 godendron, Zanard), with an account of New 

 Forms" (with woodcuts), by George Murray and 

 Leonard A. Boodle ; " Notes on the Geological 

 History of the recent Flora of Britain," by Clement 

 Reid ; " Recent Researches on the Saprolegniese ; 

 a critical abstract of Rothert's results," by Marcus 

 M. Hartog ; "Illustrations of the Structure and 

 Life-History of Puccinia graminis" (with plates), by 

 Ward H. Marshall. Also the following notes : — 

 "On the Systematic Position of Isoetes" (second 

 note), by S. II. Vines; "On the Occurrence of 

 Starch in the Onion," by A. B. Rendle ; " A Modi- 

 fication of Pagan's Growing Slide " (with woodcuts), 

 by Selmar Schonland. The plates are up to their 

 usual artistic mark. 



GEOLOGY, &c. 



Flint Implements. — A beautiful collection of 

 flint implements (neolithic), including finished and 

 unfinished, polished and unpolished borers, scrapers, 

 hammers, flakes, &c, has recently been presented to 

 me ; but the donor can give me no further information 

 than that they were picked up on the chalk downs 



