272 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Dec. 1, 1869. 



by abnormal forms of congeneric or co-ordinate 

 species. It is well known to florists that luxuriant 

 plants of Primula sinensis will sometimes produce 

 a double inflorescence, by developing a supernu- 

 merary whorl of flowers above the primary cluster. 

 The same abnormal condition may arise in Primula 

 veris ; but, I think, it must be rather uncommon, 

 as there'is no mention of its occurrence iu Masters' 

 treatise on " Vegetable Teratology," recently issued 

 by the Ray Society ; and, although I resided many 

 years in a " paigle" county, I have never met with 

 more than a single example. I have a dried speci- 

 men of a " monstrous " Cowslip, which I found not 

 long ago in Cambridgeshire, in which an unusually 

 tall stem and numerously-flowered umbel are sur- 

 mounted by, as it were, a smaller scape, springing 

 from the centre of the first truss of blossom, and 

 offering a good illustration of " terminal prolifera- 

 tion of the inflorescence." The plant which pro- 

 duced this anomaly was growing near the bottom of 

 a shaded ditch — a rather unusual situation for the 

 open-meadow-loving Primula veris — and had the 

 appearance of being over-fed. The preceding facts 

 are of interest as showing a strong tendency in 

 allied species to vary in a definite direction. Their 

 occurrence may be regarded either as the fore- 

 shadowing of species undiscovered, or yet to be ; 

 or as the reminiscence of past and extinct forms. 

 Deviations of this kind from the common type 

 belong to quite a different category from ordinary 

 monstrosities, and have a special value in relation 

 to the question of the " creation of species by varia- 

 tion." They do not constitute a deformity, such as 

 is exhibited, for instance, in the retrograde me- 

 tamorphosis of a flower, which is mischievous and 

 destructive in its tendency. Their effect is not to 

 disturb and render abortive the structural arrange- 

 ments which are essential to function; but, re- 

 specting the integrity of organs, to evolve new 

 forms capable of propagation and becoming perma- 

 nent varieties. A malformation is only an indivi- 

 dual peculiarity. A variation is a new feature which 

 may be transmitted and become the characteristic 

 of a race. An element of mutability lies within 

 each specific unity, which, when evoked by unusual 

 influences, breaks out into eccentricities more or 

 less stable. It is an attempt at a higher differentia- 

 tion than simple individualization. The one prevails 

 among the ordinary members of a stock — ol jtoMoi — 

 subservient to the " similia ex similibus," law of 

 hereditary succession. The other is like the excep- 

 tional production of genius, which furnishes the 

 pioneers of new and "nobler modes of life," more 

 in accordance with the progress and changing cir- 

 cumstances of the rolling world to which they be- 

 long. It is this centrifugal potentiality to diverge 

 from the standard type, and develop new adapta- 

 tions, which affords, as Mr. Darwin has pointed out, 

 the only physical explanation of the origin of 



species. Accidental valuations serve to indicate the 

 direction in which new species may be looked for, 

 and suggest to the scientific seer visions, like those 

 of the poet, — 



" Of what the world will be 

 When the years have died away." 



Rorert B. Smart. 



BEES. 



P\0 Bees confine themselves to a single species 

 -^-^ of plant during a flight out and home ? 

 This is a question which has long been ranged 

 under the head vexata, but it is one of considerable 

 interest. If from the time they leave the hive to 

 the time they return to it, they really do (as a rule) 

 stick to one kind of plant, then there can be no 

 doubt of the important part they play in the fertili- 

 zation of vegetables ; if, on the other hand, they 

 literally " roam from flower to flower " without 

 reference to the species visited, it is clear that their 

 usefulness in this respect has been overrated, as it 

 must be the merest chance whether the right pollen 

 is carried to the right place. Erom Darwin's 

 evidence we know their value among orchids, but 

 orchids we may regard as somewhat exceptional, on 

 account of the peculiar structure of their pollen 

 masses. 



My own experience, I must confess, is of a mixed 

 character. Early in the summer I kept my eyes on 

 " a busy bee " of the " Bumble" kind, in a deep lane 

 in Wiltshire, and I saw beyond question that it kept 

 itself entirely to Lamium album, constantly passing 

 by divers tempting flowers of other kinds of plants. 

 My next venture was also with a bumble : this time 

 a French one. It was on a sunny gravelly bank, 

 where there was an abundance of plant life ; but 

 my protege was tempted only by Teucrium 

 Scorodonia, of which there were numerous specimens 

 to be seen. A third time I kept a bee in view for 

 as long a period as I could : it was a hive bee, and 

 again I found that it stuck to one species of plant, 

 — one of the common brambles. 



I began to think that the " one plant " theory 

 was in a fair way of being proved, when, alas ! a 

 few days afterwards, I came across a bevy of hive 

 bees who upset all my speculations by flitting care- 

 lessly over a piece of ground, clothed with three 

 or four kinds of flowers, and extracting the pollen 

 from each, utterly regardless of the "fitness of 

 things." 



Now this matter is one so entirely of observation, 

 and yet so interesting in its results, that I think 

 many of the country readers of Science-Gossip, 

 who are blessed with a good pair of eyes, a tolerable 

 stock of patience, and a regard for accuracy, will be 

 glad to lend a hand in solving it. 



Havre. 



W. W. Spicer. 



