HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



45 



pistil being so termed, as they are by Mrs. Edwards. 

 I consider that the term ' ' hermaphrodite " might 

 well be confined to thoseplants which are normallyself- 

 fertilized — i.e. both morphologically and physiologi- 

 cally bi-sexual. All "synacmic" plants are not so. 

 Plants which have stamens and pistil in one flower, 

 but are not self-fertilized, should be called "mono- 

 clinous." "Perfect" is a technical term, and does 

 not mean finished or complete. As applied to a 

 flower, it means having all its essential organs present, 

 not necessarily at the same time ; or it may be used 

 of a single organ in opposition to " aborted." "Ma- 

 tured," with reference to the stamen, means on the 

 point of discharging its pollen ; with reference to the 

 pistil, it means that the stigmatic surface is viscid with 

 its secretion, and in a condition adapted for the 

 growth of pollen-tubes. As I said in my last letter, 

 Hicrochloe borealis, though monoclinous, or morpho- 

 logically hermaphrodite, is not physiologically her- 

 maphrodite, not being synacmic, but protogynous. — 

 G. S. Boulder. 



Capture of "Disr-AR.'' — On asking just lately 

 a young entomological friend \\hat captures he had 

 made in the present year, he informed me that when 

 near Belfast, in the middle of August, he had taken 

 Dispar in a garden. Unfortunately, he had mislaid 

 the box in which he brought it home ; but, from his 

 description, I can have no doubt that the insect he 

 took was Dispar. I thought the capture was worthy 

 •of mention. — Windsor Hambroiigh. 



The Study of American Antiquities. — I 

 beg to inform those of your readers ■who are in- 

 terested in this subject that the Second International 

 Congress of Americanists will be held at Luxem- 

 bourg on September 10-13 "^ the present year, when 

 it is hoped that many English will attend. I shall 

 be happy to supply tickets or any further informa- 

 tion.—.-/ Delegate for England. 



Locusts (p. 21). — I am inclined to think that the 

 Locust (properly so called, and not G. viridissiimts) 

 does really occasionally occur in the British isles. I 

 am told that a specimen of the insect was captured 

 in this parish (Standlake, Oxon) a few years ago, 

 kept for a long time under a glass, fed on green stuff, 

 and finally taken to an experienced naturalist and 

 collector living in the vicinity, who was fully per- 

 suaded of its identity. — ]V. II. Warner. 



Snowdrops. — The very evidence adduced by 

 J. L. Vincent in favour of the snowdrop being indi- 

 genous (its " flourishing in the greatest profusion on 

 the sandy banks of the rivers in Mid-Devon "), is to 

 my mind direct evidence against its being indigenous. 

 I, too, know many such instances. The sandy sides 

 of rivers, especially beneath the level of floods, are 

 its usual habitat, but these instances are always below 

 towns, villages, or gardens. I have never found 

 them above. There is, to my mind, no more sus- 

 picious locality for a doubtful plant than the sides of 

 a river. One often finds undoubted garden-flowers 

 in such places. — J. S. Wesley. 



Seeds Digesting (p. 21). — Mr. E. T. Scott is 

 perfectly correct in his assertion : witness the neigh- 

 iDOurhood of ivy-bushes frequented by blackbirds ; 

 there any one may have ocular demonstration that 

 seeds swallowed whole are not digestible. — W. H. 

 Warner. 



Pronunciation of Names. — I cannot but think 

 that Gleichenia, Sellignea, and Lachenalia, on being 

 coined as Latin derivatives of barbarous words, must 



acquire a Latin pronunciation, just as the Hebrew 

 words borrowed by the Greek. They are therefore 

 equivalent to Glikenin, Sellignea, and Lakenalia. So 

 Fuchsia should not be pronounced either Fewshia, 

 as now, or Fooksia like the German name whence 

 it is derived, but, as "ch" is equivalent to "s" in 

 Latin {e.g., "chinensis" and "sinensis"), Foossia. 

 — G. S. Boiilger. 



Cause of Coloration. — Though no doubt we 

 can as yet be said to have little, if any, definite know- 

 ledge of the cause of colour in birds, butterflies, or 

 flowers, your correspondent "H.B.'s" opinion, that all 

 flowers grown in a cellar would be white, is at variance 

 with the result of most past experiments, though these 

 are certainly not altogether satisfactory. White 

 Persian lilac is produced at Paris by growing the 

 coloured species in the dark ; but it is, as yet, an 

 article of faith, that, whilst chlorophyll, the green 

 colouring-matter of leaves, is dependent on light for 

 its colour, other colours are independent of that 

 agency. — G. .S". Boiilger. 



Early Primroses. — February,! believe, is usually 

 considered to be the earliest month in which we find 

 the Primrose {Primula vnlgaris) in bloom. Some 

 of the readers of this paper will, no doubt, l)e sur- 

 prised to hear that the woods about Little Baddow 

 are already (Jan. 1st) becoming gay with these ordi- 

 narily spring flowers. This early flowering is pro- 

 bably owing to the unusually warm, damp weather 

 there has been for this time of year. I have looked 

 in vainfor any recorded instances for such early flower- 

 ing ; any readers, therefore, who know of more 

 instances of this unusual flowering, would, by 

 recording them in this paper, confer a favour on those 

 who take interest in noticing the peculiarities of 

 plants. — C. W. H., Chelmsford. 



Density of Sea-water. — Your correspondent Ch. 

 Fred. White, in giving his kind advice to J. F. James 

 and others (p. 280, last vol.), seems to have overlooked 

 that with all thermometers, registration below zero is 

 the inverse of what it is above zero, so that of the 

 two, 3° 67' C. and 2° 55' C, the former above zero, or 

 ( + ), would indicate the ivariner temperature, iDut 

 below zero, or ( — ), it indicates the colder. Now, as 

 it is a known fact that all water, fresh or salt, when 

 agitated, requires a lower temperature to freeze than 

 when perfectly still, and as, according to quotation 

 the contrary is stated, it follows that J. F. James is 

 fully justified to make his remark. Probably there 

 is a misprint or slip of the pen, which it would be 

 well to see corrected. — H. Maceo. 



The Glastonbury Thorn. — The enclosed spe- 

 cimen of the Glastonbury thorn has just been sent 

 me from Somersetshire ; it has been out for more 

 than a fortnight. It seems to bear a resemblance to 

 the common hawthorn, by possessing the same strong 

 smell. In case the readers of Science-Gossip be 

 interested in the subject, I take the liberty to send 

 the following, copied from Miss Pratt's "Flowering 

 Plants ": — " Culpepper mentions a thorn, which grew 

 at Romney Marsh, and another near Nantwich, in 

 Cheshire, where it flowered both at May and Christ- 

 mas ; though, he says, that if the weather was frosty 

 it did not flower for the second time until January, 

 or till the hard weather was over. " — If. y. T. 



VoLVOX globator. — I found the Volvox glo- 

 bator from early in April to the 29th November 

 last year, and was exhibiting the same a few days 

 since. I did not try the earlier months of the 

 year. — George Pearce. 



