Jan. 1, 1868.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



19 



occurs relative to the so-called " beads " :— " In 

 some of the figured specimens of Orbitolina globu- 

 htris the not unusual hole in the base is indicated. 

 Occasionally individuals are perforated by a more or 

 less irregular tubular cavity. The roundness of the 

 specimens, and their holes and tubular cavities, 

 appear to have suggested to the old ' flint-folk ' of 

 the valley of the Somme that they might be used for 

 beads ; for such perforated Orbitolina are frequent 

 in the gravels that yield the flint axes." I am 

 not aware that there are any reasons for supposing 

 that these little objects ever were adopted as orna- 

 ments by the ancient Celts, although, as in the case 

 of other uncivilized races, they doubtless availed 

 themselves of any pretty natural objects for that 

 purpose which came in their way. The more likely 

 suggestion as to the way the holes in the Orbito- 

 linse occurred is that they grew around the stem of 

 some marine plant.— Stevens's " Upper Test Valley" 



BOTANY. 



Nasturtium siieolium, Reich.— This variety 

 of N. officinale will be found to have a wide distri- 

 bution ; but, although growing near my house, I 

 have completely overlooked it until the last summer. 

 Your correspondent " B." is quite correct ; the leaves 

 are not like a Slum, but are similar in many respects 

 to Helosciadiurn nodiflorum. An interesting query 

 to solve is— Is it a true variety ? Are there not 

 many intermediate states to be found to connect it 

 with the normal form of if. officinale ? Is it ever 

 found except .in deep water or growing amongst 

 rank herbage ? I have only observed it growing in 

 a ditch amongst the beautiful Phragmites communis. 

 — /. F. Robinson. 



Lemna gibba, L. — In the first number of the 

 Science-Gossip for January, 1865, a short article 

 was given on the British Duckweeds, which to me 

 (and doubtless to many of your readers) was very 

 interesting. I have ever since given its monthly 

 issue a hearty welcome. However, after carefully 

 looking over its pages, I have failed to see anything 

 more about the Gibbous Duckweed. Doubts 

 appear to be entertained in the above article as to 

 its being distinct from L. minor (see page 7, vol. i.). 

 I suppose no one must have made the experiment 

 there recommended— namely, to "reduce it in pure 

 water and force it to flower." It may not be known 

 to all the readers of Science-Gossip that Mr. 

 Wilson, author of the excellent Bryologia Bri- 

 tannica, many years ago, devoted much time and 

 attention to the Duckweed in question, and gave 

 the result of his observations in Hooker's Botanical 

 Miscellany, vol. i., published in the year 1830. 

 With this article there is an excellent tablet showing 

 the seeds in germination. I would recommend 

 any one wishing to know more of the structure, &c. 



of this minute plant, to procure the above volume. 

 — J. F. Robinson. 



Hastings Plants.— Your correspondent "J. 

 C. M." has " a word for Hastings " with regard 

 to the zoophytes there found. Permit me 

 to add mine, in behalf of its flora. Besides 

 the rare plants mentioned in the local lists, 

 whilst living there I discovered Carduus Marianus 

 (milk thistle), Tragopogon porrifolius (purple 

 goats' beard), Mentha rotundifolms (round-leaved 

 mint), Senecio erucafolius (slender rag-wort), 

 and Lotus corniculatus var. angustifolius. I vainly 

 searched for that extremely rare plant, Lotus 

 angustissinms, which is said to grow on Castle Hill. 

 I greatly fear it is now extinct in that locality.— 

 B. Daydon Jackson. 



The Calceolaria gracilis.— Having recently 

 found a large quantity of this interesting little 

 plant in an apparently wild state, a few notes on its 

 locality may not be without interest. On going 

 over a barley stubble on September 25th, I was 

 surprised to find this plant occupying a space of 

 about five acres in a fifty acre field, the soil is that 

 of a light sand situate on the oolite sands of 

 some of the geologists, the lias sands of others. 

 It has a gentle slope towards the north, and when 

 found seyeral of [the plants had been cut off with 

 the scythe in cutting the barley, but had again shot, 

 and were flowering abundantly. Since then much 

 of the seed ripened, and some of it has already been 

 scattered from the capsules. The crop previous to 

 the barley was turnips, and some years since this 

 part of the field was covered with wood. It is 

 impossible to say how the plant originally came 

 there, but it is quite clear that it has seeded on the 

 soil, and come up in great quantities amid the 

 barley, showing that this plant, though a native of 

 Quito (South America), has grown sporadically in 

 this country; and now, from its growth and extent, 

 has every appearanee of a wild native. It may be 

 well to remark that it is accompanied by the Sper- 

 gula arvensis, Corn Spurrey and ScierantJius animus, 

 Annual Knawel. The, t field in question is in a wild 

 open part, half a mile from the village of Bradford 

 Abbas.—/. C. Hudson, Bradford Abbas, Sherborne. 



The Blue Pimpernel. — I have twice found this 

 plant myself, once near York (in 1846), and 

 again about six or seven years ago, on the Terraces, 

 Wellington, New Zealand; there this lovely and 

 rare English wild flower seemed doubly lovely, and 

 I mentioned it with delight to some friends from 

 the South, who told me that on the Canterbury 

 Plains, the blue pimpernel was more commonly 

 met with than the red variety. This I only men- 

 tion on hearsay; but that I have found the blue 

 pimpernel twice is an undoubted fact, anckno true 



