i53 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



lias likewise the leaves toothed and wrinkled, but 

 they are contracted below the middle ; the scape is 

 umbellate and the limb of the corolla flat. It is found, 

 but not commonly, in England in woods and thickets, 

 and in Scotland it is still rarer (in the margin of the page 

 of my copy is inscribed " Found at Frog Green "). Mr. 

 Wilson finds specimens of this with some scapes 

 bearing solitary flowers and others umbellate ; so that 

 whatever may be thought of the following species, 

 this cannot be considered really distinct from P. acaulis. 

 Lastly the cowslip or paigle (P. veris) differs from 

 the preceding in having the calycine teeth obtuse, and 

 the limb of the corolla concave. It is found in 

 meadows and pastures, and is frequent in England in 

 a clayey soil ; but in Scotland it is rare, being only 

 found about Edinburgh. 



To this description the author adds : " Various are 

 the opinions respecting the above three Primulas, as 

 to the permanence of their specific characters. Pro- 

 fessor Henslow has seen them all produced from the 

 same root : and thus in his useful little catalogue of 

 British plants, arranged according to the natural 

 system, has reduced them to varieties of P. veris, as 

 Linnaeus has done." The primrose is thus P. veris 

 y. acaulis of Linnaeus and Henslow, the Oxlip P. veris 

 /3. elatior of Linnaeus and Henslow, the cowslip P. 

 veris a. officinalis of Henslow. "Few plants are, 

 however, more constant to the characters here laid 

 down than these are, as generally seen growing in 

 their wild stations. They are rarely found inter- 

 mixed — and in Scotland the last two kinds are 

 scarcely known. Some are of opinion that the P. 

 elatior is a hybrid between the other two : but Mr. 

 H. F. Talbot found upon the summit of a high 

 mountain, near the lake of Thun, in Switzerland, 

 P. elatior in abundance, while P. veris was confined to 

 the base of the hill, and /'. vulgaris was not found 

 within fifty miles of it." 



We have, then, three plants, the primrose, oxlip, 

 and cowslip. The principal, as every child knows, is 

 partial to the tufted shade of the coppice and hedge- 

 bank ; the oxlip is likewise partial to shade, but 

 probably not in the same degree, and in Switzerland 

 it grows at a greater elevation on a mountain than 

 the cowslip ; which in turn owes its distribution to a 

 clayey, or as I surmise to an open and cretaceous 

 soil. Locality, then, is here what is technically termed 

 the environment, and it exerts its influence whether 

 physical, chemical or meteorological. Again, it is 

 stated the three plants have umbels, which in the 

 case of the primrose are sessile. But this last I know 

 is no constant character, as I had a primrose that 

 was picked in the Loseley Woods at the foot of the 

 chalk ridge known as the Hog's Back, with a 

 stalked umbel, only last season. Neither, then, is the 

 -cape invariably sessile. We are thus reduced to 

 find the permanent characters of the oxlip in "leaves 

 contracted " below the middle, and of the cowslip in 

 "teeth " of the calyx "obtuse " and " limb " of the 



But if we enquire what is the 

 effect of the environment in any flower that grows in 

 the shade and in the open, we shall find in the shade 

 it runs to luxuriance, and is pale in colour, and in the 

 open it is dwarfed and richer in hue. And this is the 

 very point that has been already emphasised. The 

 cowslip is dwarfed in its foliage and inflorescence as 

 regards the oxlip, and much more so when com- 

 pared with the obscure primrose hiding in its mossy 

 couch ; while to the bees, as has been often noticed, 

 belongs the honour of crossing the genus and propa- 

 gating and maintaining the sports insensibly induced 

 by the environment. Lastly, to Professor Henslow 

 and Linnreus, we are indebted for showing the iden- 

 tity of the species, and this makes one tempted to 

 ask, Could not some botanist repeat the experience, 

 and raise a primrose, an oxlip, and a cowslip, from 

 the same root ? 



A. II. Swinton. 



MICROSCOPY. 



The Quekett Microscopical Club. — We have 

 received No. 23, for May, of the Journal of this well- 

 known club, containing, amongst other matter, the 

 following articles : " On the Resting Spores of Proto- 

 coccus fluvialis," by T. Charters White, M.R.C.S.; 

 "On the Association of Bodies resembling Psoro- 

 spermia, with the Degeneration of Hydatid Cysts," 

 by H. T. Whittell, M.D., F.R.M.S.; "On Pleaching 

 and Washing Microscopical Sections," by Sylvester 

 Marsh, jun., L.R.C.P., &c. ; "On Filarke ; Com- 

 munications by Drs. Manson, Somerville, Bancroft, 

 Da Silva Lima, Paterson, Magalhaes, and Mortimer 

 Gourville, with an Introduction by the President;" 

 " Description of a Turntable," by Chas. G. Dunning ; 

 "Description of Dr. Matthews' Machine for Cutting 

 Hard Sections." 



New Collecting-bottle. — Mr. Row will find 

 this figured and described in J. Queen & Co.'s (New 

 York and Philadelphia) Catalogue for 1S70, page 51, 

 figure 1871. It is there called the " Wright collect- 

 ing-bottle," and is thus described: " It consists of a 

 bottle with a movable brass cap, in which are fastened 

 two small tubes with screw tops ; one of these pro- 

 jects a little higher than the other, in which is fixed a 

 funnel when in use ; the other has a trumpet-shaped 

 form, over which a piece of fine muslin is stretched." 

 Mr. Row's bottle is of course a much less costly affair. 

 Messrs. Queen's price is 3 dollars, including case. — 

 F. K. 



On the Endochrome of Diatoms. — A very 

 interesting paper, illustrated with a plate of the 

 spectral bands of chlorophyl, phycoxanthine, &c, 

 by M. Paul Petit, has just appeared in " Brebissonia.' - " 

 The coloured matter (Endochrome) of the Diato- 



13rebi=sonia, re annce, No. 6. 



