HARDWICKE'S SCIEN CE-GOSSIP. 



279 



Micklc Force. At tlie latter station it is plentiful, 

 and tliere are a few good colonies opposite Weddy- 

 bank, only on the Yorkshire or south bank of the 

 Tees.— z/. I., 28, Upper Manor Street, Chelsea. 



London Okchids.— Certain species of the Or- 

 chid family have recently been detected in places 

 where they hitherto have been neither seen nor 

 reported ; viz. : 1. Epipactis palitstris in Surrey, 

 not niore than four or five miles from the metro- 

 polis. E. pv.rpurata ( ? a provisional name), still 

 grows in the flower-beds and lawn of Chace Cot- 

 tage, near Enfield. This fact has been already 

 reported. Recently it has got two other fair com- 

 panions, tIz., E. latifolla and Llslera ocata (Tway 

 blade). These are the remains of^the ancient Chace 

 flora. — A. I., Chelsea. 



METAMOnrnosis of Organs in Lophospeb- 

 3iUTii. — I beg to subjoin particulars of a Lopjho- 

 spenmim, in which every part of the flower has in 

 turn been converted into a leaf: calyx, corolla, 

 stamens, pistils, seeds. AH the annexed modifi- 

 cations occnrr.ed in one plant, except the extra 

 petal. Lophosper>mm : Nat. order Scrophidariaceee. 

 Characteristics of normal flower— Calyx : sepals 5, 

 edges entire, convex towards corolla. Corolla : 

 tubular, 5-cIeft, red-purple. Stamens : 4, and 1 

 minute anther, 2 discs. As modified by metamor- 

 phosis — Calyx : («) sepals 4 ; {b) unsymmetrical ; 

 {c) with central streak of red ; {d) flat ; {e) like 

 stem-leaves, with serrated edges, and on leaf-stalks. 

 Corolla : {a) absent, or rudimentary ; {b) green ; 

 ((?) an extra strap-shaped petal {'i in. by yV in.), 

 red, springing from outer upper edge of ovary, by 

 side of upper sepal ; (f/) 5 separate leaves on leaf- 

 stalks ; {e) split along top. Stamens : {a) when 

 corolla split, anthers enlarged, consisting of ovals 

 forming an arrow-head ; (b) minute ; {c) filament 

 short, anthers dark ; {d) anthers, leaves with ser- 

 rated edges; {e) anthers streaked with red. Pistil: 

 (fl) long, bearing leaves at extremity ; {b) bearing 

 leaves and abortive flowers. Ovary : («) bunches 

 of small leaves, with serrated edges, on footstalks. 

 Stem-leaves : (a) tinged with red. Proliferous 

 varieties — sepals on footstalks, flowers springing 

 from axils : («) central axis bearing alternate 

 leaves li^e the stem, with terminal flowers; {b) 

 central axis bearing at the end seven calyces fitting 

 closely into each other : within the central one a 

 modined dwarfed corolla with an augmented num- 

 ber of stamens ; small corollas on stems groM'ing 

 from between these calyces. In the most modified 

 form, where calyx, corolla, stamens, pistil, and 

 seeds, were all leaves on footstalks, serrated and 

 shaped like the cauliuc leaves ; the fact of their 

 representing these parts was only evident from the 

 leaves all springing from the same plane, instead of 

 being placed at intervals along the stem. It was, 

 in fact, the condensed, bushy head, terminating 



some of the stems, that first drew attention to the 

 plant. — T. ]). Siiieatoii, Adelaide, South Australia. 



SixGULAU Scabious (p. 258).— I find two speci- 

 mens in my herbarium somewhat similar to that 

 described by " T. B. W." One, gathered near Chel- 

 tenham about twenty years ago, has the umbel 

 composed of eleven small heads, on very long 

 stalks, in addition to the central and principal head. 

 In the other case (from Esher, Surrey, 1846), there 

 is a single head only, on a short stalk, issuing from 

 the base of the true head of flowers. These are 

 the only instances I have met with in this plant of 

 the proliferous or "Hen-and-Chickens " form of 

 growth, — W. jr. Spicer, Itchen Abbas. 



Kew IlEKBAKiUii. — It is stated that upwards of 

 one hundred and ten thousand species of flovrering 

 plants alone are preserved in the Herbarium at 

 Kew. 



GEOLOGY. 



An American Possil Lion. — Prof. Leidy has 

 described a new species of lion under the name of 

 Eclis uugi'.stus, from teeth and fragments of jaws 

 discovered in Nebraska. The most characteristic 

 specimen is an upper sectional molar as large as 

 that of i,he Bengal tiger. 



A Modern Trilobite.— It is stated by tiic 

 American. Journal of Science that Professor Agassiz 

 discovered, on the 12th of February last, about 

 forty leagues to the east of Cape Prio, whilst 

 dredging at a considerable depth, a crustacean, 

 with a great number of rings, and whicli v. as three- 

 lobed ; thus possessing some of the chief distinctive 

 m arks of the ancient trilobites. The name of Tomo- 

 carls Peircei has been given to the animal. 



Porosity of Soils.— The porosity of soils could 

 not long be preserved if the mineral dust were not 

 agglutinated into granules by some substance act. 

 ing as a cement, such as vegetable mould, or clay 

 coagulated by lime salts. The required proportion 

 of the latter is ascertained by mixing known weights 

 of levigated clay with sand or chalk, drying till the 

 still moist mass crumbles in the fingers, and be- 

 sprinkling it very gently for three or four days with 

 water containing traces of lime salts. "With proper 

 quantities of clay the soil preserves its character ; 

 in other cases it is softened, and becomes imper- 

 meable. Por one hundred parts of sand, about 

 eleven of clay are required ; for chalk, a slightly 

 larger amount. If, instead of clay, soluble or in- 

 soluble humates be used, it will be found that one 

 per cent, of humic acid with lime or clay (or two 

 per cent, if strongly dried and pounded) will enable 

 the earth to resist a long washing. In light soils 

 vegetable mould, by means of its humates, con- 



