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HARD Wl CKE 'S S CIENCE -GOSS IP. 



BOTANY. 



The Flora of Marion Island.— At a recent 

 meeting of the Linnean Society, Mr. H. N. Moseley, 

 who was one of the naturalists on board the Chal- 

 lenger, read a paper on the above subject. He 

 stated that Marion Island possesses considerable 

 interest, from its isolation and being within the 

 Antarctic drift. It is about i,ooo miles from the 

 African continent, 450 from the Crozets, 1,200 from 

 the desolate Kerguelen Island, above 2,000 from 

 Tristan d'Acunha, and 4,500 from the Falklands, to 

 which, nevertheless, its flora appears related. It is 

 of volcanic origin and snowclad. The rocks at half- 

 tide are covered with Darvilca ittilis, above high tide 

 Tillcca inoschata is found in abundance, and beyond 

 the beach a swampy, peaty soil covers the rocks, 

 where there is a thick growth of herbage. This is 

 principally composed of species of Acicna, Azorella, 

 and Fcstuca, the first of these three being the most 

 abundant plant on the island, though the latter grass is 

 by no means scarce. The cabbage-like plant Frhigka 

 antiscorbutica is less profuse than at Kerguelen's 

 Land. Some of the ranunculus group are met with 

 at water pools near the sea. Four kinds of ferns 

 were obtained, Loniaria Alpina being the most 

 numerous. Lichens are scarce, but mosses in plenty 

 form yellow patches, which stand out conspicuously 

 midst the green vegetation, which rises to an altitude 

 of probably 2,000 feet. From the occurrence of 

 Pringlea on Marion Island, the Crozets, and Ker- 

 guelen Island, and the existence of fossil tree-trunks 

 on the two latter, Mr. Moseley thinks there was an 

 ancient land connection between them. 



A New View of the Absorption of Organic 

 Matter by Plants. — Prof. Calderon contests the 

 ordinary view that the nitrogen of the tissues of 

 plants is derived entirely from the nitrates and 

 ammoniacal salts absorbed through the roots. He 

 adopts the theory that the source is the nitrogenous 

 organic matter which is always floating in the air. 

 The nutrition of plants he divides into three classes : 

 necropIiagoHs, the absoq:>tion of dead organic matter 

 in various stages of decomposition ; plasmophagous, 

 the assimilation of living organic matter without 

 elimination, or distinction of any kind between use- 

 ful and useless substances, such as the nutrition of 

 parasites ; and biophagoiis, the absorption of living 

 organisms, such as that known in the case of the 

 sundews and other insectivorous plants. A further 

 illustration of the latter kind of nutrition is, according 

 to Prof. Calderon, furnished by all plants provided 

 with viscid hairs or a glutinous excretion, the object 

 of which is the detention and destruction of small 

 insects. To prove the importance of the nitrogenous 

 substances floating in the air to the life of plants, he 

 deprived air of all organic matter in the mode de- 



scribed by Prof. Tyndall, and subjected lichens to 

 the access only of this filtered air and of distilled 

 water, when he found that all their physiological 

 functions were suddenly suspended. 



"Mushrooms and Toadstools." — Nobody has 

 now the right to complain of being unable to dis- 

 tinguish between poisonous and edible fungi. Here 

 is a book written by one of our best fungiologists, 

 with two large folded plates, one containing litho- 

 graphed figures of the chief poisonous, and the other 

 of the principal edible fungi, altogether of sixty 

 species, for the sum of one shilling ! It is published 

 by Hardwicke & Bogue, 192, Piccadilly. 



Another Insectivorous Plant.— Allow me 

 to call the attention of your readers to a remarkable 

 insectivorous plant which has recently been brought 

 to my notice by my nephew, F. Brittain, of Sheffield. 

 It is met with over a large portion of the American 

 continent, but the specimen I refer to was found in 

 France. The plant is named Apocyniiin androsizmi- 

 folium. Its especial peculiarity is that the insects 

 are caught by the petals, which close upon the 

 insect and retain it a close prisoner, in the manner of 

 the Venus' Flytrap {Dionea miiscipnla). I have not 

 had an opportunity of examining the physiology of 

 the plant, and cannot say at present if the action be 

 produced by glands or hairs, or any other agency. 

 The dried specimen I have has but one leaf and three 

 flowers. Every flower has a fly in its deadly embrace. 

 In two instances the wings project outwards ; in one 

 only a leg is seen. In the three cases the entire 

 body of the insect is quite covered by the petals. I 

 showed my specimen to Prof. Williamson, of Owens 

 College, lately, but he could not give me any infor- 

 mation, as the plant was new to him. I have referred 

 to Darwin's interesting work on " Insectivorous 

 Plants," but I don't see in that book any notice of 

 the plant I have referred to. Probably this plant 

 may be known to some of your American readers ; 

 if so, I hope they will enlighten us as to its habits 

 and natural history. The flowers of the dead speci- 

 men are of a dull yellow colour, but I am inclined to 

 think that they are of a reddish colour when living. — 

 Thos. Brittain. 



Erica vagans. — A friend of mine, who attended 

 the recent meeting of the British Association at 

 Glasgow, brought me, on his return, a specimen of 

 this beautiful Cornish heath, which he found growing, 

 apparently quite wild, on the hill-sides, about half a 

 mile from the inn at Stronachlacher, near the head of 

 Loch Katrine. My friend says that he could see 

 no signs of its having been planted there, or of its 

 having escaped from cultivation. It was growing 

 amongst patches of Calluna, Erica tetralix, and 

 Polypodium phegopteris, and to all appearance was 

 just as indigenous as these. Your botanical readers, 

 however, will know that Cornwall is the only recog- 



