HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



237 



and of a very succulent texture. A closer look, 



however, showed that it was veritably and indeed a 



hip. From the centre of the fruit, on its upper 



surface, rose the remains of the five sepals (the length 



of which was an inch and a quarter), within which 



lay a mass of dead stamens, some of which showed 



the last remnants of their anthers, shrivelled, and of 



a pale brown colour, still resting on the filaments. 



Below these calyx-remains lay the hip itself, the 



circumference of which measured four inches ; the 



depth, three quarters of an inch, measuring from the 



base of the sepals to the point of juncture of the hip 



and the stalk. The shape was more that of an 



ellipse than anything else ; the surface smooth and 



shiny, the colour an extremely rich orange red. 



Comparing this with an ordinarily large hip, its 



magnitude strikes one as being really marvellous, and 



I shall feel only too glad if any reader can afford me 



any reason for such an unusual growth. Can it be 



that soil causes it? That Nature plays no " freak " 



with this rose-bush is proved by the fact that every 



year a few hips, of an equally large size, are found on 



it. The bloom of the plant is very large, single, and 



either white or very pale pink in colour, and the 



bush grows naturally ' close to the kitchen-garden on 



the above estate. I made all enquiries I could about 



the plant, and was told it was a genuine wild rose 



which had grown in that spot, and developed this 



great size of bloom and fruit naturally. This year 



there are but a few hips on the plant. Such a 



-structure has interested me keenly, and I close this 



brief account of it with the express hope that others 



may be interested in hearing of it as well ; and any 



information as to whether such hips have been seen 



iefore or not will be most gladly received. — K. E. 



Styan. 



The Common Teasel. — Just outside the window 

 of my sitting-room is a plant not often seen, I think, 

 in a semi-suburban garden-bed. It is a tall and 

 shapely common teasel. It came of its own sweet 

 will, and has been left to grow as it liked, until some 

 forty blossom-heads have girdled themselves with 

 mauve flowers whose circles, starting midway round 

 the dense spike, retreat upwards and downwards in 

 the oddest fashion, giving an effect not easily de- 

 scribed. I do not know whether anyone has 

 explained this curious mode of flowering of the teasel. 

 Nor is this the only problem the plant presents to the 

 botanist. What special merit is there in the flowers 

 which should cause them to be guarded like an eastern 

 monarch's harem, or like the Emperor of China, or 

 the Lama of Thibet ? First, the whole plant is more 

 or less covered with prickles, not very sharp, but 

 <juite sufficiently disagreeable to ward off the bite of a 

 sheep or cow, one;would think. Secondly, the spikes 

 bristle with spiny bracts, projecting so far beyond the 

 flowers that the only insects which dare to aHght are 

 humble-bees, of which at least two or three may be 



seen travelling systematically round and round the 

 flower circles. They are of two kinds. I am no 

 entomologist, so cannot give their names, but one, 

 the rarer, is small and brown, the other black with 

 red tail. The large golden-banded humble-bee does 

 not seem to visit the teasel at all, though I do not see 

 why it should find more difficulty in getting honey 

 from the flowers than its smaller relatives. Lastly, 

 the conformation of the leaves offers an efficient 

 protection against ants and other small insects which 

 might scale the stem and rob the sweets reserved for 

 the humble-bee. The pairs of opposite leaves are 

 connate, i.e., their blades unite, base to base, forming 

 little basins which contain rain-water even in dry 

 weather. As a child, I always thought they were 

 specially provided to give drink to the wee birds in 

 summer-time ; I do not think so now, but I am just 

 as sure that they do not take this shape by accident, 

 that these reservoirs benefit the plant in some way, 

 probably by the exclusion of noxious insects. 

 Possibly, like the sundew, the plant may also benefit 

 by the death of drowned intruders, but I have made 

 no observations on this point. A slight change in the 

 shape of the plant's defensive armour, the curving of 

 the bracts, has made one of its cultivated varieties of 

 great use to cloth-weavers. Cloth-making, helped 

 no doubt by the layers of fuller's-earth found beneath 

 the soil of this district, was formerly a staple 

 manufacture, but none is now made, and the fuller's- 

 teasel has disappeared from the neighbourhood, if, 

 indeed, it was ever cultivated, and the common 

 teasel seems to have no rival in the hedgerows and 

 thickets, where it rears its spiny heads in defiance of 

 wind and weather until autumn has withered their 

 bracts and scattered their seeds, and then they find 

 way into winter bouquets and bird-stuffers' " land- 

 scapes," and so renew, if not their; youth, at least 

 their usefulness, to some people's way of thinking. 

 But the dead brown stalks and prickly heads will 

 never, to my mind, do more than suggest the delicate 

 tints and quaint conceits of the plant in full bloom. — 

 M. E. Pope. 



Veronica Chamcedrys. — I find the upper leaves 

 of the germander speedwell have been aborted and 

 unnaturally developed by a small red grub. "Will 

 any correspondent interested in such matters let me 

 know its scientific name and life-history. I enclose 

 specimens, which I fear will be of very little use when 

 they reach you. — E. Adrian Woodniffe-Peacock, 

 Cadney Vicarage, Brigg. 



Bacteria as Feeders of Leguminous 

 Plants. — At a recent meeting of the Alford Field 

 Club and Scientific Society, Mr. William Wilson, 

 Alford, N.B., dwelt upon investigations on the above. 

 After touching upon the investigations and opinions 

 of Malpighi, Treviranus, A. P. De CandoUe, Erikson, 

 Frank and Ward, he entered into the conclusion of 



