Aug. 1, 1869.] 



HARDYVICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



191 



Habenaria bifolia.— I am afraid "M. O," Kent, 

 has taken a wrong view of his Habenaria bifolia 

 (p. 162), from not having rightly understood the 

 structure and economy of Orchids. That the pollen- 

 masses were found on the labellum and calyx, as he 

 mentions, I can quite believe, but that does not 

 prove it to be a monstrous flower, as it is an ordi- 

 nary occurrence with most Orchids, and particularly 

 with H. bifolia and //. chlorantha from the wind 

 blowing them against themselves and one another, 

 or from some other accidental cause. B . bifolia is 

 more subject to this. I have noticed from the ex- 

 treme viscidity of the discs, and the easy way in 

 which they can be displaced from their anther-cells, 

 they being set wider apart than most other species. 

 Another reason why the pollinia could not have 

 been growing on the sepals and labellum is that the 

 anther-cells must have been produced before the 

 pollen could be, according to all morphological rules. 

 As to the pollen-mass at the base of the column, 

 that pretty certainly got placed there by some insect 

 in the ordinary course of I he fertilization of the 

 flower. " M. C." mentions that the "glands formed 

 a bulb where growing on the spur and labellum;" 

 but he cannot have properly examined a fresh pol- 

 linia, or he would have noticed that all of them have 

 these swellings or discs, whether in or out of their 

 anther-cells ; they forming a very important part of 

 the economy of the plant. "M. C." considers also 

 that the pollinia remaining fixed to the perianth, 

 after a fortnight's drying, is another proof that they 

 must have been congenifally attached ; but the truth 

 is that the longer the viscid matter of the rostellum 

 is exposed to the air, the harder and firmer it gets. 

 I have in my possession, now, specimens of Anthro- 

 cera filipcnduUe with pollinia attached to their an- 

 tenna?, and which are as firmly attached now as when 

 they were caught five or six years ago. I hope 

 "M. C." will not think that I make the above as- 

 sertion without proof, as I can assure him that I 

 have seen quite a hundred plants in the same con- 

 dition as his //. bifolia, and particularly of that 

 species. I expect that "M. C.'s" observations 

 were called forth from reading Mr. Holland's paper 

 on monstrosities, in the June number, where meu- 

 tion is made of a flower having produced a stamen 

 from the base of the column ; but that was an en- 

 tirely different affair, as it was a complete stamen, 

 having a filament, anther-cells, and pollen, and 

 springing from the base of the column, which would 

 be its natural place if the flower had been regular 

 and symmetrical : this is the only case of the sort 

 that I have met with of the thousands of English 

 orchis flowers I have examined, though I have 

 several times noticed it in the exotic species of the 

 genus t'lipripcdiiim. — Arthur B. Cole. 



The Prophet's Plower {Amelia ec/iioides). — 

 " Its yellow corolla has five purple spots, which the 

 Mohammedans here believe to be caused by the tips 

 of Mohammed's fingers in blessing the flower ; but 

 he must have had a very small hand to accomplish 

 this." — Dr. Brown, Lahore. 



Bee Query.— A hive of bees has apparently 

 swarmed into the small cape placed above. What 

 should be done with it as autumn approaches, the 

 cape being too small to form a parent hive ? Brood 

 comb has also been found in a glass placed on 

 another hive. The owner, not having met with the 

 occurrence before, would be glad of any information 

 as to how to act on such occasions, and also what 

 may have been the cause of it. — F. S. 



Herb Robert, or the Petid Cranesbill. — 

 This little wayside plant, which your correspondent 

 Mr. James Britten notices in the June number of 

 Science-Gossip, is very extensively used in some 

 parts of South Wales as a domestic remedy in cases 

 of erysipelas, and, as I have never seen any allusion 

 made to its efficacy in medical works, I thought I 

 would mention the fact here. It bears a provincial 

 name in the Welsh language significant of its vir- 

 tues. Erysipelas is always termed the "blast" by 

 the Welsh peasantry, because they fancy it is pro- 

 duced by cold air — what we should call " sitting in 

 a draught," — and hence the common name of Herb 

 Robert is " the herb of the blast," or, more correctly 

 translated, herb for the blast, implying the herb 

 that cures the blast. I have constantly known it 

 used with wonderfully good effect in the form of an 

 infusion, which the patient called " blast tea," and 

 also in the form of a poultice. The scent of the 

 freshly gathered herb is I think most disagreeable, 

 but the flower growing in its favourite haunts, on 

 old walls, and amid heaps of stones, is an especial 

 favourite of mine. I have never heard it called 

 "ragged robin;" but " wild geranium " and "the 

 little cranesbill " are terms often used : cranesbill 

 of course from the likeness borne by its fruit to the 

 shape of that bird's beak. The name of the genus 

 is derived from this resemblance, is it not ? and 

 more than one botanical writer draws attention to 

 the singular appendages which the seed, or rather 

 fruit, bears : a sort of screw which fastens the fruit 

 into any little crevice or chink where it may happen 

 to rest : one of the many instances exhibited in 

 the floral kingdom of the great Creator's wisdom. — 

 Helen E. Watney. 



Something Like Beetles. — Utah is not only 

 now plagued with locusts, but also with an insect 

 called the " elephant beetle." A credible person, 

 who returned from the neighbourhood of the Salt 

 Lake recently, saw myriads of them covering the 

 earth with their shining black bodies, and de- 

 stroying everything which they met in their path. 

 Even small animals, he was informed by the ill- 

 fated residents, did not escape the ferocity of these 

 hordes. Their bodies were crowded upon and 

 wounded cruelly with the powerful antenna?, until 

 they fell down exhausted by their struggles and loss 

 of blood, when they were fastened upon by 

 thousands and devoured. The entire carcase of a 

 sheep was eaten, and the bones picked clean in 

 three or four minutes, and it is said that a dead ox 

 would be gobbled up in a quarter of an hour. So 

 ferocious are these giant beetles, that mothers are 

 afraid to let their children go out of the house 

 unattended by a grown person. In their frequent 

 bloody contests the wounded are devoured on the 

 instant. — Gardener's Magazine, May 22. 



Casting the Skin. — In page 136 of Science- 

 Gossip for June, Mr. Mclntyre gives an illustra- 

 tion of a curious slide of a spider's foot, which has 

 been prepared from an animal on the point of shed- 

 ding its skin. On looking over some old slides of 

 mine to-day, I have come across a similar instance, 

 though the object is a different one. In this case 

 it is an entire silkworm prepared more especially 

 to show the disposition of the trachea in situ ; and 

 as this creature must have been just about to 

 change its skin, all the new prolegs, as well as 

 others, and all the new spiracles, are seen within 

 the old ones. — Fred. II. Lang, Lower Bedlands, 

 Beading, June 19 th, 1869. 



