HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



95 



of tlie plant wliich I really think ought to be ex- 

 perimented upon : it does mot exceed three or five 

 inches in height under the most favourable influences 

 of the driest'ground it adorns, ir develops splices of 

 flowers of an unusual size ; tiie individual flower I 

 hold in memory as appearing half as large again as 

 that produced 'in the ordinary growth of the damp 

 pasture plants, and the colour is a very pretty shade 

 of a somewhat purplish-blue. I had fully intended 

 to try my success with this variety tliis year,_ 

 and I shall be much pleased and more satisfied if 

 Mr. Holland will take in charge the necessary stock 

 in due season, that he, too, may try how the plant 

 is affected by cliange from a maritime to an in- 

 country place of growth. We have also, as a 

 frequent plant in some places I could point out, a 

 regular albino variety of the Prunella,— yellowish- 

 green leaves and stem, slightly tinged calyx, and 

 constant white flowers, but the flowers are small 

 and very fugacious. It does not occur where I 

 mean as a casual specimen or two, but is the plant 

 of a considerable space, and although the normal 

 blue-flowered form may, and generally does, occur as 

 its neighbour under precisely similar conditions, 

 the two hold their distinctive characteristics of 

 habit, — the latter bold and masculine-looking, the 

 former delicate and of a gentle feminine appearance. 

 (This I am afraid is rather a far-fetched and 

 venturesome simile.) I think that this albino form 

 should be tested for improvement, and, as with the 

 above, I shall be glad to place it for this purpose 

 under the fostering care of Mr. H. I once met a 

 few odd plants that bore parti-coloured flowers-;- 

 half the corolla white and half purple, longitudi- 

 nally, or white and purple in regular transverse 

 bands. These specimens were " sports " from the 

 common plant and had none of the real albino 

 features. There is a casually white-floioerecl form, 

 and there is also a permanent (I think) albino. — 

 Fred. M. Webb, 3, St. Domingo Vale, Everton, 

 Liverpool. 



The Compass-plant. — Longfellow, in describing 

 or referring to_ the compass-plant, has evidently 

 used a poet's licence, or else misapprehended the 

 aspect and character of this coarse plant. Its 

 leaves do not point to the north. It is not a delicate 

 plant, nor has it a fragile stalk ; with these excep- 

 tions, the six lines quoted may be correct. The iii-st 

 public mention of the polarity of this plant was 

 made in communications to the National Institute, 

 by Gen. Alvord, in August, 1842, and January, 

 1843. Although the fact was known to hunters 

 and settlers before this, abundant observations 

 have since confirmed Gen, Alvord's statements that 

 the radical leaves of the plant really present their 

 edges north and south, while their faces are turned 

 east and west. It was at first conjectured that the 

 leaves had taken up so much iron as to become 

 magnetic. This was not sustained by analysis. It 

 was then suggested that the resinous matter of 

 which the plant is full (and from which it is very 

 frequently called the rosin tceed, in fact is best 

 known by this name among the people of the 

 prairies), might have some agency in producing 

 electrical currents; but from the fact of rosin being a 

 non-conductor of electricity, this was hardly pro- 

 bable. The cause of this polarity or meridional 

 bearing is assigned by Dr. Gray to the fact of both 

 sides of the leaves being essentially alike in the 

 important respect of possessing an equal number 

 of stomata, they seek an equal exposure to the 

 light. The mean of equal exposure in northern 



latitudes being that in which the edges are pre- 

 sented north and south, the latter to the. maximum, 

 the former to the minimum of illumination. On 

 comparing the leaves of Silphium laciniatum. with 

 those of other species of Silphium which show no 

 tendency to assume a north and south position, 

 the number of stomata in the field of microscope 

 at one time x 400 were as follows : — Silphium laci- 

 niatum., upper surface 20, lower surface 20 ; S. 

 perfoliatum, upper surface 10, lower surface 30 ; 

 S. compositum, upper surface 3, lower surface 9 ; 

 S. terebinthinaceum., upper surface 10, lower surface 

 20. Its geographical distribution is from Texas on 

 the south to Iowa on the north ; from Southern 

 Michigan on the east to west of Missouri and 

 Arkansas ; its chief habitat being rich prairie-land. 

 Should any reader of Science-Gossip wish a 

 specimen of the leaves, I will gladly send one to 

 any address, on application. — Wm. fF. Hohnes, 

 Warsow, Wyoming Co., N. Y., U. S. 



Showers of Trogs. — Difficult as it may be to 

 explain these satisfactorily, it seems to me that, 

 though infrequent occurrences, the evidence in 

 favour of the fact is too strong to be set aside ; 

 and yet one can hardly see why such an incident 

 should be less believable than that of a shower of 

 fishes, they having been found on land, in various 

 instances, in spots to which they could not have 

 migrated. Then we have, as corroborative evidence, 

 an occurrence of a not dissimilar nature last year, 

 when a shower of so-called insects fell at Bath 

 and in its vicinit}^, and were examined by many 

 persons, scientific and non-scientific. Authorities 

 differ as to the nature of the creatures : they have 

 been represented as annelids, and also as the larvse 

 of a Chironomus ; possibly both were mingled. It 

 is not more extraordinary that frogs should be 

 drawn up into a cloud than such animals as these 

 — how, is doubtful. The " waterspout " theory will 

 hardly do ; it may " hold water," but nothing else, 

 I suspect. — J. B. S. C. 



Canine Affection ! —"A female dog, belonging 



to Mr. C , of Loughborough, became the mother 



of four puppies. After they were drowned and 

 thrown aside, she sought diligently and discovered 

 one of them, which, though apparently dead, she 

 found means to restore by doubling herself up and 

 warming it, and by now and then shaking it with 

 her teeth. But how transient was her joy, for a 

 relapse took place, and its death quickly followed. 

 She then carried it to a complete grave, which she 

 had previously prepared for it, and buried it with 

 tears in her eyes, and howling as if in the utmost 

 grief." — Old Magazine of the year 1822. Is this 

 story credible ?— /. R. S. C. 



Whitebait. — With regard to the Whitebait 

 question, I beg to thank Mr. Salter for his informa- 

 tion (p. 281, last vol.), which is, to my mind, con- 

 clusive on the subject. — E. S. Kemp-Welch. 



Communications Receivbd from— J. E. — W. K.— A. S. 

 —J. H.— S. S.— C. R.-E. H.— D. H. T.-W. S. P.— H, B.— 

 J. T.— M. C. H. D.— G. W. jun.— T. V. C— W. W. J.- A. VV. 

 L.— E. L. C— R. G.— J. H.— E. T.— E. H. S.— J. N.— J. F. R. 

 — G. G.— H. U. J.— A. S.— A. A.— S. S.- R. H. N. B.— P. S.— 

 J. W. M.— T. B. B.— R. C. M.— J. C. W.-H. B. E. F.— E. T. 

 S.— W. W. B. S.— J. L. C— J. C. D.— T. W. C— J. P. A.— F. 

 M. S— J. C. H.— R. A. P.— H. P. M— G. E. L— J. F.— W. H. 

 B.— G. H. S.— J. H.— J. F. D.— W. H. W.— J. A. jun.— H. B. 

 T.— E. De B. M.— E. H.— W. E.- E. D.— H. E. W.— F. S.— R. 

 H.— C. G.— X. Y. Z A.— H. B.— A. C. H.— J. E. R.— W. D. B. 

 — C. D.-T. C. T, W.— W. N.— A. S.— J. K. J.— I. W.— W. I.. 

 K.— A. A.— C. F. D.— J. B.-J. J. P.— E. G. H.— R. E. H.— 

 W. J. H.— &c. 



