June 1, 1S70.] 



HARPWICKE'S SCIENC E-GO S S IP. 



139 



BOTANY. 



Rare Plants at Torquay.— Under the above 

 title I wrote a description of two plants 1 found 

 near Torquay last Christmas-day, one of which, in 

 the excitement of enthusiasm, I declared to be the 

 early growth of Adiantum reniforme. A day or two 

 after the February number of Science-Gossip ap- 

 peared, I was applied to by no less than four cor- 

 respondents for spare fronds of my fern. One of 

 my correspondents, I regret to say, convinced me of 

 my mistake, and 1 take this opportunity not only 

 of admitting my error, but of informing the readers 

 of Science-Gossip that I visited the rocky cave in 

 which I found my supposed Jdiantum on Easter 

 Monday, and I was delighted to find the fern still 

 growing, although it had scarcely increased in size. 

 I was surprised to find the tiny fronds still simple 

 and reniform ; however, there can be no doubt that 

 my fern is nothing more than a stunted or immature 

 form of Asplenium Rida-muraria, but how it got 

 into such an out-of-the-way place, its usual habitat 

 being old walls, is a puzzle, especially as it was the 

 only specimen of the species I met with during 

 either of my visits to the neighbourhood. Primroses, 

 which are so fine and abundant on the hedge-banks, 

 coppices, and hill-sides in Devonshire, occasionally 

 present flowers having six petals, but during my 

 Easter visit to Torquay, I had the gratification of 

 meeting with ,'a solitary flower having eight petals. 

 This surely must be a rarity, at least it is the first 

 time I ever met with a primrose with more than 

 six petals on a single flower, and its discovery was 

 naturally very interesting. — W. H. Grattann. 



Tricotyledonous Embryos. — Irregularities in 

 the number and arrangement of the ^cotyledons are 

 not uncommon in young sycamores. I have lately 

 collected all that I could find with a view to the 

 solution of the question raised by Mr. Kitchener. 

 I have found one or more examples of each of the 

 following variations :— I. Cotyledons united for 

 about half their length, the plumule being em- 

 braced by the edges of the single compound coty- 

 ledon in the same manner as the spike of the 

 Adder's-tongue (Ophioglossum) is by its leaf. II. 

 One cotyledon normal, the other slightly cleft 

 at the apex. III. Three cotyledons, two of which 

 are more or less united at the base and oppo- 

 site to the third. This is by far the most common 

 variation. IV. Three distinct cotyledons, equidis- 

 tant from each other. In this case, the plumule 

 usually consists of three leaves in a whorl alternate 

 with the cotyledons, the petioles of two of these 

 leaves being, in one instance which I have found, 

 fused together. V. Four distinct cotyledons. I 

 cannot find any instance of the stalk being grooved 

 or flattened, either above or below the cotyledons, 

 or any trace of an abortive plumule, such as might 



be expected F in the case of a double monstrosity. 

 This circumstance, as well as the greater abundance 

 of specimens in which two of the three cotyledons 

 are united at the base, would, I think, lead us to 

 consider the variation to be caused by a chorisis of 

 a cotyledon, while the existence of specimens with 

 three cotyledons and three second leaves would be 

 rather in favour of the view proposed by Mr. Kit- 

 chener. The difference between these two views 

 will not appear very great, if we consider that the 

 cotyledons and plumule are formed by the division 

 of a single cellular mass. In the one case, we should 

 assume that this mass divides into a central, and three, 

 instead of two, lateral masses; in the other, that 

 having divided as usual into a central and two lateral 

 masses, one or both of these are cleft at an earlier 

 or later period of their growth, and the result is 

 a more or less deeply divided cotyledon, or in some 

 Cases two entirely distinct from each other. — F. V. 

 Paxton, M.B., Chichester. 



Tricotyledonous Embryo. — (See May No.) 

 Your correspondent's tricotyledonous embryo was 

 not necessarily produced by chorisis. There may 

 have been ab origine three cotyledons. Such an 

 augmentation in number does occasionally occurs 

 though the appearance in question is more frequently 

 due to a fission, or subdivision, of one of the two 

 cotyledons. It has been stated that Piuks possess- 

 ing this peculiarity will produce double flowers, but 

 this is a statement requiring confirmation. Your 

 correspondent will find an illustration of the union 

 of two embryos (Synophty) in A. P. De Candolle, 

 " Organogr. Veget.," torn. ii. p. 27, tab. 54 ; ibid, 

 t. 53. Other references will be found in Masters' s 

 "Vegetable Teratology," pp. 57 and 370.— Jf. X 



Apium graveolens, Poisonous. — A parishioner 

 lost a fine cow, from her eating the roots of this 

 plant, which he dug up when clearing a ditch, 

 having thrown up the roots on the bank. The leaves 

 are considered innocuous. Two children were also 

 poisoned some years since by eating the roots which 

 were thrown up on the sea-shore. tThe common 

 belief with the peasantry is, if anything is poisoned 

 with this plant, it grows out of the graves.— & IF. 

 Brenan, Cushendur, Co. Antrim. 



British Agarics. — In the Journal of Botany for 

 April, Mr. W. G. Smith, F.L.S., gives an analytical 

 key to the genera and sub-genera of Agari cini, with 

 illustrated plates, and observations. This commu- 

 nication is useful towards simplifying the study of 

 this somewhat difficult order of fungi, and should 

 be widely circulated. 



Sussex Mosses. — All who are interested in the 

 mosses to be found within a reasonable distance of 

 London should obtain Mr. C. P. Smith's "Moss 

 Flora of Sussex," just published by the Brighton 

 and Sussex Natural History Society. 



