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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



in the trade, in which are three varieties of Conval- 

 laria majalis ; viz. alba, rubra, and rosea. I am 

 told that the coloured ones may probably be seed- 

 lings, as seeds from the same plant will occasionally 

 produce plants with colours differing one from 

 the other. Can this be accounted for, and can 

 hybridation be the cause of it ^—T. B. IF. 



The Babylonian Willows. — Observing in your 

 number for the current month a quotation from 

 Sillman's American Journal to the effect that 

 Karl Koch had settled, by recent research, the 

 question of the " Gharab " (Psalm cxxxviii. v. 2) 

 against the weeping willow, and that, therefore, 

 Linnseus' specific name for that tree {Salix bahylo- 

 nicd) ought to be abandoned in favour of that of 

 Ma3nche — S. pendula, I think it may be pertinent 

 to the matter if I remark that the true weeping 

 willow grows on the banks of the Jordan, where I 

 have myself gathered specimens. Hasselquist also 

 mentions it as growing there. I have seen it also 

 overhanging a stream in a valley of Upper Galilee, 

 near Safet. Canon Tristram, in his " Natural His- 

 tory of the Bible," says : " The weeping willow 

 {Salix bahylonica) is frequently found near the coast, 

 overhanging wells and pools. There is a conspi- 

 cuous tree of this species over a pond in the plain 

 of Acre, and others in the Phoenician plain. It is 

 also common on the banks of the river Barada 

 (Abana), near Damascus." The fact, however, of 

 its occurrence in the semi-tropical climates of the 

 Jordan, where, as Dr. Hooker says, " the flora is 

 that of the whole dry country as far east as the 

 Punjab," sufiiciently disposes of the argument that 

 "its hardiness indicates a cooler climate than that 

 of Mesopotamia." Tristram found several other 

 Salices in the Jordan Valley,* as S. odanclra, and 

 one resembling S.viminalis ; and adds, "in some 

 of the wadys by the Dead Sea, where the stream is 

 perennial, we found a very fine species of willow 



flourishing abundantly These wadys were 



the only places in Palestine where we found the 

 willow the predominant tree, and where it continu- 

 ously lined the banks of any stream." Poplars do 

 indeed occur also in these countries, and I have 

 seen the Fopuhis euphratica growing plentifully by 

 the Jordan. Hooker says of this tree that it is 

 "found all over Central Asia, but is not known 

 west of the Jordan." It is not necessary to prove 

 that the Salix babylonica grows in Mesopotamia at 

 the present day ; probably the changed conditions 

 of the climate, owing to its now sparse population, 

 have rendered its survival impossible. But from 

 what is said above, I think it will be evident that a 

 tree which still flourishes in Damascus and the 

 Jordan Valley, may with great probability have 



* other writers mention also having found the -S". agyp- 

 tiaca here. 



flourished in Babylon at the time of the Jewish 

 captivity. — Edward Atkinson, F.L.S. 



A Useful Hint. — The Garden says: We are 

 indebted to Mr. Pynaert for the discovery that 

 Lilium auratum, besides being a beautiful plant, is 

 a grand specific against house-flies, and that a 

 single specimen of it in an apartment will keep it 

 clear of these troublesome insects. 



Double Plowers and Perfumes.— The double 

 white thorn and the double pink thorn have no 

 scent ; but the double gilliflower and the double 

 pinks and carnations retain their scent in spite of 

 the conversion of tlie stamens into petals. Will 

 any correspondent kindly inform me to what extent 

 this prevails, and the reason ? — /. T . C. 



Extirpation op Rake Plants. — This sad work 

 is still increasing, and ought to be stopped, espe- 

 cially as some provincial societies persist in offering 

 prizes for the largest and best collections, and 

 "express the hope that numerous competitors may 

 be found in the families of the members." And 

 now we are threatened by the Botanical Record 

 Club, according to Mr. Edward Atkinson, who 

 makes some judicious observations on the subject 

 in Science-Gossip, June 1, 1873, p. 142. The ab- 

 surd notion seems to prevail that Botany consists 

 in the getting together, no matter by what means, 

 of as many specimens as possible, especially of the 

 rarer species, and calling them by their scientific 

 names; and this without the least pretension to 

 a knowledge of their intimatenature, as if mere phy- 

 siognomy were quite above physiology. Accordingly, 

 money is offered to encourage a system which, so 

 far from being a test of the knowledge of the candi- 

 dates, or likely to direct them in the right road for 

 its pursuit, only tends to foster mere vanity, and to 

 lead the mind from the true path of science. This 

 last and most essential point might be gained, and 

 the knowledge of the competitors tested, far more 

 effectually by means at once easy and rational, and 

 without the least damage to those rare plants which 

 it is our duty to protect and preserve. Por ex- 

 ample : displays of the generic characters of the large 

 and useful order of Grasses would at once show 

 the botanical acquirements of the candidates in 

 this department ; and observations on the charac- 

 ters afforded, in different orders, genera, and 

 species, by the pollen, by the cells of the epidermis 

 and its appendages, would be equally eligible ; and, 

 indeed, numberless other such useful and suitable 

 subjects might be mentioned, of which raphides 

 and other plant-crystals would afford a wide field 

 for the exercise of the diligence and improvement 

 of the student. Many of our most eminent botanists 

 have long been protesting against the onslaught 

 on our most cherished wild plants. But all in vain : 

 for our societies still encourage the havoc. Thus, 



