s* 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Devonshire. 



Exeter. W. H. Newberry, Elm Grove House. 



Ornithology. 



Hampshire. 



Near Newbury (Berkshire), Miss Marian Ridley, 

 Hollington House. Will assist by post only, in 

 determining British Ferns and Mosses. 



Middlesex. 



London. G. S. Boulger, F.L.S., F.G.S., 144 

 Kensington Park Road, W. Biology, Geology, and 

 Mineralogy. 



Hornsey. T.J. Lane, Rise House, Hornsey Rise, N. 

 Mammalia, Aves, Reptitia, Amphibia (British). 



Somersetshire. 



Bridgwater. Wm. Stoate, Elm Grove, Wimbdon. 

 Microscopy, Oology (Foreign and English). 



ON ALTERNATE DEHISCENCE OF 

 ANTHERS. 



IN Sir J. Lubbock's book on "Insects and Flowers," 

 there occurs the following account of the move- 

 ments and ripening of the anthers of Parnassia. The 

 phenomena described are so curious that the writer 

 was induced to take the first opportunity that pre- 

 sented itself, to examine them personally. As the 

 passage referred to is brief, it may be quoted entire. 



"It" (Parnassia) "has ten stamens, of which, 

 however, only five bear anthers, while the others 

 secrete honey at the base, and terminate in globular 

 glands. The five polliniferous anthers ripen not 

 simultaneously but successively, and as each ripens it 

 places itself right on the top of the stigma, with its 

 back to it, and the pollen is then discharged from 

 the anthers on the side away from the stigma, so that 

 it is scarcely possible for any to fall on it, and this is 

 done by the five stamens in succession." Quoted from 

 Bennett's " How Flowers are Fertilized," p. 19. 

 The italics are not in the original, and are placed to 

 indicate the parts of the description that do not 

 appear to agree with the facts, so far as one could 

 note them. The observations were repeated on a 

 number of flowers, obtained from Bedfordshire, Hert- 

 fordshire, and Northumberland, and were continued 

 through the summer and early autumn of 1878 and 

 1879. The conclusion arrived at was that the parts 

 of the description referring to the placing of each 

 anther on the top of the stigma, and the successive 

 ripening of them are scarcely correct. The following 

 account is based upon observations on some two 

 hundred blossoms, and maybe taken as pretty closely 

 in accordance with the facts of the case. When the 

 corolla expands the stamens are recumbent on the 



ovary, and closely applied to it, forming a compact 

 whorl on the top of the stigma. First one of the 

 anthers is slightly elevated, and as the dehiscence 

 continues it is carried forward, describing an arc in 

 its course, till the filament lies extended between the 

 petals. The empty anther is suspended over the 

 edge of the sepal, to which the stamen is opposite, 

 and soon falls off. These movements are repeated by 



Fig- 37. — Grass of Parnassia (Parnassia ]>aluslr is). 



the stamens, invariably in alternate order, which may 



14 5 



be expressed thus, 3 2, or 2 3, and never in such 



54 * 13 4 



a succession as would be represented by 2 5 or 2 5. 



3 4 1 



If a careful examination be made of the illustration of 



Parnassia, in " Flowers : their Origin, Perfumes, &c," 



by J. E. Taylor (our Editor), it will be seen to be 



confirmatory of the above description. 



Subsequent observations showed that this alternate 



