HARDVVICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



45 



grow : the first stage of the mushroom's existence 

 must be passed in the body of an animal host ; and 

 as horses, sheep and oxen are all readily attracted by 

 its taste and mealy smell, it has never any difficulty 

 in finding a host to take it in. When once the spores 

 have passed from the body of the host, they produce 

 a mycelium, from which the future mushroom is 

 formed. The connection between fungi and animal 

 droppings is a matter of verj- early obser\-ation, and 

 our forefathers were wont to believe that certain evil 

 species came from the body of the Wicked One, 

 and familiarly called them tode's stools, or devil's 

 droppings. In this division of the life-histoiy of 

 fungi, I believe, we have the key to the value of 

 attractive characters. Horses, oxen, sheep, foxes, 

 squirrels, moles, birds, snails, and insects are all 

 attracted by appropriate scents, tastes, and colours ; 

 and the forms and habitats of fungi are those which 

 have least succeeded in attracting their particular 

 hosts. There is no living being either great or small 

 enough to escape the attentions of these plants in 

 their ceaseless endeavours to attract ; and among 

 fungi, just as among flowering plants, every variation 

 of form, scent and colour has been perpetuated and 

 developed, because it has been successful in attracting 

 and in thus securing the multiplication of the species. 

 The subject is one, I think, that rcffuires the gathering 

 together of much individual observation in all parts 

 of the world ; and it would be -ivell if those who have 

 the opportunity would note at the time the name of 

 the fungus and its observed host, and if students of 

 biology, who possess facilities for laboratory work 

 would follow the matter still further by artificial 

 cultures, and so determine the^ changes that take 

 place in the body of the host, and the course of the 

 alternating sexual and agamous generations. 



Chlorophyll in Plants.— Mr. J. Ballantyne's 

 article in November's issue of SciENCE-GossiP is 

 most interesting. A few years since I dug up in my 

 garden a hyacinth bulb which had been buried so 

 deep that it could never have come to the surface. 

 Its leaves were green, and the- purple flower gave 

 evidence that colour can be produced without light 

 and air. I think I mentioned this at the time, and 

 no notice was taken of it. — Rir.\ S, Arthur Breiian, 

 Cuskendu7t. 



Hydrocotyle Asiatica. — In a recent number 

 of Science-Gossip I see amongst the Notes and 

 Queries a reference to the plant Hydrocotyle Asiatica, 

 I have never heard of its use as a cure for leprosy ; 

 but that it possesses medicinal and tonic properties 

 is evident from the fact that it is used by the Tamil 

 and Singhalese natives in Ceylon as a fish-poison. 

 During a residence of some years in Ceylon, I 

 frequently witnessed the operation. The leaves and 

 stems of the plants are pounded into a pulp and 

 stirred into the pool containing the fish, the stream 

 having been first diverted into a side channel. The 



fish soon show signs of uneasiness, and rise to the 

 surface of the water, they are then easily captured by 

 hand. Both //. Asiatica and H. Javanica are used 

 for this purpose.—^. Ernest Green. 



Hydrocotyle Asiatica.— En reponse a la 

 question posee par Me. Edith R. Allan dans le 

 dernier No. de votre journal, p. 282, j'ai I'honneur de 

 vous adresser la note suivante, qui, j'espere, repondra 

 aux desirs de votre correspondante. Hydrocotyle 

 Asiatica (L.) est une petite plante employee depuis- 

 long-temps dans la therapeutique indienne contre la, 

 fievre et surtout pour ses proprietes therapeutiques. 

 En 1872 le Dr. Boileau, qui etait atteint de %re,. 

 crut s'etre gueri par I'emploi de cette plante, et des 

 details a ce sujet ont ete publics par Bouton: 

 ("Medical Plants of Mauritius"). Le Dr. Boileau 

 est mort de la lepre. Des experiences ont ete faites a. 

 I'Hopital des Lepreux par le Dr. Alex. Hunter qui 

 ne parut pas lui avoir reconnu une grande efficacite. 

 Le Dr. J. Shortt considere I'hydrocotyle comme 

 pouvant donner de bons effets dans les affections 

 lepreuses en raison de ses proprietes alterantes et 

 toniques. La plante a ete analysee par un pharmacien 

 de la Maison de Pondichery Lepine, qui y a trouve 

 un principe particulier. La dose est poudre 3 grains 

 par jour, teinture alcoolique \ grain.— Z?r. J. Leon 

 Soubeiranz, Professetir cl r Ecole de Pharmacieny 

 Montpellier. 



Crepis Taraxifolia as a Sussex Plant. — 

 In your issue of November last your correspondent 

 R. B. P. records the finding of the above at 

 Willingdon. I may state that it also grows in 

 profusion at the Buxted end of the railway cutting- 

 between Uckfield and Buxted, where I gathered spe- 

 cimens last June. It is quite possible that it may 

 occur in other localities as it might easily be over- 

 looked or mistaken for some allied species. — F., Uck- 

 field. 



Euphorbia Cyparissias in Kent. — If Messrs.. 

 Styan and Haydon will refer to the report of the 

 Botanical Localities Record Club for 1876, they will 

 there find the occurrence of this spurge in Kent duly 

 notified. Specimens were distributed by me to the ■ 

 members of the Botanical Exchange Club in that 

 and the following year. In one of the numbers of? 

 Science-Gossip for 1890, mention was made of 

 the plant having been gathered near Eastbourne. It 

 is frequent on the chalk slopes of Normandy, where 

 I have seen it growing in open places among box 

 and juniper ; also in Switzerland, in bushy places on 

 calcareous soil, and by roadsides, but not in woods. 

 I did not see any of it beyond Leuk. — E. de Cris- 

 pigny. — P.S. — See also February number of this 

 periodical for 1877. 



Autumn Colours and Tints. — The remarks on 

 autumn colours by Professor Pellsbury, which 

 appeared in a recent number of SciENCE-GossiP, are 



