278 



HARD WICKE 'S S CIENCE - GOSSIP. 



lobsters, the larger one had buried the flounder be- 

 neath a heap of shingle, on which he now mounted 

 guard. Five times within two hours was the fish 

 unearthed, and as often did the lobster shovel the 

 gravel over it with his huge claws, each time ascend- 

 ing the pile and turning his bold, defensive front to 

 his companions. — Ernest E. Barker, Rothesay Aqua- 

 rium, Bute. 



BOTANY. 



Gentiana Acaulis. — In your issue for Oct. I, 

 page 234, one of tlie correspondents appears to ex- 

 press some doubts about my liaving seen Gentiana 

 acatdis on the Cader Idris, or, if I Iiad seen it, that 

 it must have been a garden escape. On referring to 

 my diary for 1862, I find that I ascended the Cader 

 in August of that year, and recorded " Gentiana 

 acaulis, found on the slopes." I have the most vivid 

 recollection of having noticed it, and am as certain 

 as I am of my own existence that it was then there. 

 It was certainly not Gentiana amarella, for that, as 

 an autumn gentian, would probably flower in the 

 autumn. Moreover, it was as unlike it as chalk is to 

 cheese in other respects. In the Botanical Magazine, 

 or F/o-cver-ga?-den Displayed, by W, Curtis, 1796, it 

 is stated that ' ' G. acaulis is a plant growing in moun- 

 tainous situations, where it is constantly exposed to 

 strong-blowing winds. Such plants are always dwarf- 

 ish in such situations. The present plant has no 

 stalk, whence its name acajdis, but cultivated in gar- 

 dens it becomes one. As most alpine plants do, this 

 loves a pure air, an elevated situation, and a loamy 

 soil, moderately moist ; it is, however, somewhat 

 capricious, thriving without the least care in some 

 gardens, and not succeeding in others." Sowerby's 

 '•' English Botany," vol. vi., states that " G. amarella 

 gi^ows in pastures, especially in chalky and limestone 

 districts ; stem 3 to 1 5 inches high ; flowers of a dull 

 lurid purple." Mr. Bentham, in his " Handbook of 

 the British Flora," writes : " G. amarella, diffused over 

 the greater jjart of Britain. Flowers at the end of 

 summer and autumn." — yohn Colebrook. 



How TO Dry Faded Leaves for Decora- 

 tions. — Get a variety of the most beautiful, in dif- 

 ferent states of decay. Be careful not to have the 

 slightest injury in any. Iron them with an iron, not 

 too hot, till quite flat, and then with a camel's-hair 

 pencil brush lightly over the whole. Some leaves, 

 such as oak, pear, chestnut, alder, birch, and poplar, 

 are better than the softer kinds. If carefully done, 

 they should look very nice, and last long. — Harriet 

 Moore, Cantei-bury. 



Cotoneaster. — With reference to your corre- 

 spondent M. King's letter relative to the existence of 

 Cotoneaster upon Great Orme's Head, I stated (see my 

 remarks, page 210, SciENCE-GossiP, September 17), 



not in such positive terms that it did not grow there, 

 but that I was wholly unable to find it anywhere. 

 When I considered what numbers of people, inde- 

 pendent of sheep, traverse that promontory annually, 

 the inference as regards its extinction was a fair one. 

 I do not remember when Professor Babington's 

 Manual was first published, but suspect it must have 

 been long before my first and only visit to Orme's 

 Head, in August, 1862, so that there was ample time 

 for its extinction. Your correspondent has quoted a 

 letter of Mr. Thomas Shortt's, which happily shows 

 that it was seen by himself and friend to grow in two 

 distinct places upon the Head. My doubts, therefore, 

 as to its extinction are at an end. — John Colebrook. 



The Origin of Flowers. — H. Miiller, in an 

 article on this subject, expresses it as his opinion 

 that the first Angiospermous flowers to appear on the 

 surface of the globe were diclinous, and fertilized by 

 the wind ; that is, supposing them to have oiiginated 

 from a single stock. 



Origin of Long Stamens in Crucifer^. — 

 In suggesting a possibility that the long stamens of 

 cruciferous plants may be the leaves of lateral buds 

 within the flower, I am prepared to admit that such 

 buds cannot be regarded as axillary to the sepals. 

 They would, in such a case, be extra-axillary, as the 

 flower-buds of cmciferous plants mostly are, flowers 

 in a raceme without bracts being almost as charac- 

 teristic of that order as tetradynamous stamens. That 

 a flower should consist of only two stamens cannot 

 seem incredible to one who knows that the male 

 fiowtx oi Euphorbia or Callitriche consists of only one. 

 It may seem unlikely that throughout a large and 

 very natural order lateral buds should be constantly 

 found within the floral envelopes, giving origin to 

 some of the essential organs of reproduction. But in 

 those coniferous trees, in the bi-anches of which we 

 find a cluster of leaves in the place of one, it is usual 

 to regard them as the leaves of an axillary bud. 

 When such a phenomenon occurs within the flo\\-er 

 as two or more stamens in the place of one, why 

 should we not adopt a similar explanation of it ? 

 Collateral chorisis is an hypothesis not easily illus- 

 trated by reference to foliage leaves. In the work 

 A. P. CandoUe on Vegetable Organography, the au 

 thor observes that the hypogynous scales found in 

 some Rammcidaceous flowers have tlie appearance of 

 carpellary bracts. If they be so indeed, the carpels 

 must belong to their axillary buds. — John Gibbs. 



GEOLOGY. 



Swiss Lake Dwellings. — Dr. Gross exhibited 

 at the meeting of the German Antluopological 

 Society, held at Constance, some hatchets of Nephrite, 

 a mineral now only found in China, which had been 

 found among the remains of the Svdss Lake 

 dwellings. Professor Desor expressed his opinion 



