32 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP, 



[Feb. 1, 1870. 



for, is the signal for a growth to set in, which 

 growth, on the part of the style, has the effect of 

 elevating pollen a considerable distance above the 

 outstretched stigmas of previously expanded 

 flowers. 



These last stigmas are alone receptive or ready 

 for receiving and using the pollen-grains, and on 

 them the said grains very naturally descend. Shortly 

 after the apex of the style emerges from the summit 

 of the anther-formed tube, its two arms are beginning 

 to separate, and by this movement the falling of the 

 pollen is accelerated. By the time the style has 

 reached its full stature, its two arms are as wide 

 apart as they can go, and each arm has its smooth 

 side looking up and its rough down, so that the 

 young styles, which might be compared to the 

 instrument used for sweeping chimneys with, act so 

 as to help the viscid stigmas of more fully developed 

 ones to pollen ; and this co-operation, or whatever 

 else one may call it, goes on until all are served, or 

 at least until all the pollen is raised out of the 

 anthers. 



43. 46. 



Fig. 45 shows a tubular hermaphroidte floret magnified. The 

 line from G runs into the thickened upper part of the 

 style, after it has emerged from the anther-tube, laden 

 with pollen. 



Fig. 46. The line from H runs into one of the outstretched 

 arms of a style ; that from I runs into the syngenesious 

 anthers ; that from J into the filaments ; and that from 

 K into the style, just before it joins the top of the ovary. 



Figures 44, 45, and 46 illustrate everything con- 

 nected with a tubular floret, and I may here state 

 that the drawings are by Mr. Burbidge. 



As insects are generally present where cross 

 fertilization is going on, one might expect to find 

 them actively engaged in preventing the Daisy from 

 degenerating; but it so happens that this prolific 

 little plant does not require their services, for what 

 its own beautiful contrivances leave unperformed 

 the wind performs. It is pretty clear, too, that 

 insects are not such a disinterested lot of beings as 

 to pay systematic visits without deriving any benefit 

 therefrom themselves. It is also certain that 

 instinct never struggles so much against one set of 



creatures as to make them blunder continually for 

 the good of another set. And as the Daisy has 

 nothing better than a very miserable pittance of 

 pollen to part with, it follows that it is left alone 

 in its glory. 



John Duncan. 



THE DARK ARCHES MOTH. 



(Xylophasia pohjodon.) 



rflHIS is one of the very common moths at "sugar" 

 -*- in our London suburbs ; and holds its own 

 after other species, more interesting to the collector, 

 have been " startled from their propriety " by the 

 bricks and scaffolding of the builder. Not much 

 appears to be known about the caterpillar, for New- 

 man, in his recent work on British Moths, quotes 

 from Hubner, not having had it brought under his 

 own notice. I reared, in the spring of last year, 

 some larva which produced this species. They 

 were discovered feeding ou the Chrysanthemum, 

 being then very small, on the 4th of August, 1868, 

 and were supposed, at the time, to belong to the 

 ubiquitous 31. Brassier. They were placed in a 

 breeding-cage, and continued to eat, but grew very 

 slowly. During the day they retired to the surface 

 of the earth, not however burying themselves, but 

 hiding under the dead leaves and stalks, usually 

 stretcbing themselves out side by side with great 

 regularity. Night appeared to be their feeding-time, 

 though they would occasionally be found upon the 

 food-plant in early morning. They did not entirely 

 cease to eat until the 15th of November, when they 

 hybernated until the beginning of April. Of the 

 adult caterpillar, I had a description, unfortunately 

 mislaid ; I observed no traces of the warts delineated 

 by Hubner ; the ground colour was a dull brown, 

 with faint stripes running from the head to the anus; 

 head small and very glabrous. The moths appeared 

 rather later than usual. 



The Gipsy-moth (Liparis dispar). — I see, from 

 time to time, offers of the eggs of this species in 

 scientific journals. As far as I know, all these 

 produce what is called the northern, or dwarf type, 

 which has been bred " in and in " for some years 

 past by collectors. It would be interesting to 

 ascertain whether the normal form does at all occur 

 now in the British islands ; or could the diminutive 

 form be brought up to the full size again by any 

 mode of treatment. On one occasion, I liberated, 

 by way of experiment, a largish number of these 

 caterpillars near London, placing them on sallow, 

 which seems most congenial to their taste. How- 

 ever, subsequently, I was unable to discover either 

 cocoons or moths. The species is an interesting one 

 to rear in confinement. 



J. R. S. Clifford. 



