9o 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



cula and Festuca bromoides), Small Canary-grass 

 (Phalaris minor and Phalaris canariensis), and 



Cat's-tail Kceleria (A'aieria phleoides). 



Ranunculus Ophioglossifolius. — Should not 

 R. Ophioglossifolius be omitted from our lists of 

 British plants ? St. Peter's Marsh, Jersey, where it 

 was found by Professor Babington, no longer exists : 

 it was drained some years back. A friend, residing 

 at St. Helier's, tells me that he watched the last 

 patch of the plant growing smaller and smaller till 

 it finally disappeared altogether. I believe it has 

 never been found elsewhere in the Channel Islands. 

 On the other hand, should not Centaurea paniculata 

 be added to our lists ? It appears firmly established 

 on the west coast of Jersey, growing, with C. aspera, 

 on low sandy hillsides, between St. Owen's Pond, 

 and the northern extremity of the bay. — IV. H. y., 

 Uppingham. 



British Roses. — We hope to give a paper on 

 this subject in the May number, with illustrative 

 S23ecies in each of Baker's groups. 



Bisexual Catkins of Salix Caprea. — In my 

 rambles the early part of last year, I found a small 

 tree of Salix Caprea with the whole of the catkins 

 bisexual. The like may have been observed by 

 botanists, but I believe it is not of frequent occur- 

 rence. — A. Carr. 



On Alternate Development in Adoxa. — 

 During the spring of 1879, when making observations 

 on the sequence of the ripening of anthers, a number 

 of plants of Tuberous Moschatel (Adoxa Moschatellina) 

 were kept on hand, in order to note any peculiarity 

 in the development of the flowers. The inflorescence 

 of this species is capitate, on a long peduncle, and 

 consists typically of one terminal floret and four 

 lateral ones, the latter arranged symmetrically round 

 the axis, and are inferior to the former. Occasionally 

 one or two minute florets are inserted between the 

 lateral ones, and slightly superior to them. Several 

 hundreds of plants, from various localities, were at 

 different times kept under observation, from which it 

 was found that the order of development in all cases is 

 uniform, and that it has some analogy to the alternate 

 development of anthers, of which a brief account 

 appeared in the March number of Science-Gossip. 

 The terminal floret invariably opens first, and after- 

 wards the four lateral ones expand in alternate order. 

 Accordingly the order of expansion of the five florets 

 that make up the inflorescence, may be expressed thus 



4 1 5 or 5 1 4, and so far as could be observed there 



3 2 



is no instance of a successive development which might 



3 



be expressed by the formula, 214. The anthers are 



5 

 in four or five pairs, or probably the filaments are 



bifurcate, and bear a peltate, one-celled anther on 

 each branch ; but the ripening of the anthers was in 

 such rapid succession that it baffled one's efforts to 

 note the exact order in which it occurred. Possibly 

 the development of the terminal capitulum of Petdsites 

 vulgaris, which always expands first, may be analogous 

 to the fact that the axial flora in Adoxa opens before 

 the lateral ones. As the season is rapidly approach- 

 ing when the tuberous Moschatel will again be in 

 blossom, some of the readers of Science-Gossip may 

 possibly be interested sufficiently in the matter to note 

 the development for themselves. The plant is not 

 rare, although probably often overlooked because it is 

 so inconspicuous. It is abundant in south Bedfordshire 

 and north Hertfordshire, where it is usually found on 

 the outskirts of woods, in small plantations, and by 

 old hedgerows. Its time of blossoming is April and 

 May. — J. Saunders. 



The Butterfly Orchis. — I should like to call 

 the attention of your botanical readers to the 

 arrangement of the pollen in the pollinia of this 

 flower. The pollen mass is a spiral spring, and 

 within its folds the pollen is secreted. It is easy to 

 draw this spring out to a considerable length, and 

 on letting it go again the pollen falls out in showers. 

 As I have not seen this fact mentioned in any of the 

 smaller works on botany, I think it possible that 

 many of your readers may not be aware of it. — C. 



LIST OF "LOCAL FLORAS" OF THE 

 BRITISH ISLES. 



[Continued from page 59.] 



Devon. 



Mosses of, and Cornwall. Lichens and scale mosses- 

 of ditto, both by E. M. Holmes, F.L.S. Plymouth. 



Nat. Hist. Soc. Trans. 



Kent. 



Lichens of, by E. M. Holmes, F.L.S. Hepaticse of, 

 by the same, may be obtained from the author, 

 30 Arthur Road, Holloway, London, W. 

 Tapton Elms, Sheffield. BERNARD HOBSON. 



GEOLOGY. 



Geological and Geographical Survey of the 

 United States Territories. — We have received 

 Nos. 2 and 3, vol. v. of the " Bulletin of the United 

 States Geological and Geographical Survey of the 

 Territories," which contain, amongst other matter, 

 articles on "The Laramie Group of Western Wyoming 

 and Adjacent Regions," by A. C. Peale, M.D. 5 and 

 "On the Extinct Species of Rhinoceridre of North 

 America and their Allies," by E. D. Cope ; also 

 " Palteontological Papers," as follow : Remarks upon 



