HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP. 



5 1 



to some excellent papers from the pen of Mr. Herbert 

 Goss, F.L.S., which appeared in the " Entomologists' 

 Monthly Magazine " some few years ago. Finally, the 

 study of fossil entomology is one which is worthy of 

 attention not merely on account of the direct evidence 

 it affords of the age of the several insect orders and 

 their representatives, but also on account of the light 

 it incidentally throws on the existence of other forms 

 of life. For wherever an insect is found we know 

 that its food must have existed too, and so certain 

 beetles indicate the presence of fungi, mosses, and 

 animals ; certain aquatic insects and larvce the 

 presence of other water insects ; and certain flies, 

 moths, bees, etc., the existence of the flowers upon 

 which they depend for subsistence ; while these 

 flowers in their turn indicate the existence of the 

 insects by which they are fertilised. So we notice 

 the several members of the great family of Life each 

 dependent on one another, and therein we may see 

 an image of the narrower human family — everyone 

 dependent in some measure for life and support 

 upon his fellow men. 



VARIATIONS IN FLANTS. 



IT would be a good work for some disciple of 

 Darwin to write a monograph of the genus 

 Brassica, as illustrating the inherent tendency of 

 plants to vary, and the possibility of fixing their 

 varieties by selection so as to form races which may 

 be taken for true species. It is believed by many 

 persons that cabbages may be crossed with swede 

 turnips, if they are allowed to flower in the neighbour- 

 hood of such plants happening to blossom at the 

 same time ; in which case, we may reasonably ask 

 whether the swedes commonly referred to, Brassica 

 campcstris, are specifically distinct from Brassica 

 okracea ? It would be difficult indeed to classify and 

 describe the varieties of cabbage, borecole, cauli- 

 flower, broccoli, coleworts, and savoy, with anything 

 like scientific precision, especially as much of the 

 information required for such a work would have to 

 be derived from catalogues in which cauliflowers are 

 put between carrots and cucumbers ; an arrangement 

 not very intelligible to botanists. The usefulness of 

 such a work would, however, be so great as to make 

 it worth while to face and overcome its difficulty. 

 Notwithstanding all that has been said by botanical 

 philosophers, and clone by practical gardeners to 

 prove the capacity of plants for spontaneous varia- 

 tion, whenever we speak of an actual difference 

 between a seedling plant and the plant from which 

 the seed was taken, we are immediately met by the 

 suggestion that bees, or some winged insects, are 

 responsible for the change, or that the unhappy 

 parent of the wayward plant had been, by some means, 

 crossed in love. ' [This is often quite erroneous. It is 



by no means likely that savoys were the offspring of a 

 cross between the common cabbage and Scotch 

 kale, and it is inconceivable that the plant from 

 which those three varieties were derived, could have 

 become the progenitor of broccoli and cauliflowers 

 in any other way than by variation, originating 

 spontaneously in the only sense in which that word 

 has any meaning ; that is, independently of any 

 known external influence. When a tendency to 

 vary manifests itself in any plant, it often has an 

 aptitude to run in different directions, and the effect 

 of selection, whether natural or artificial, is to 

 determine the direction such a movement shall take. 

 Twelve years ago a gentleman gave me seeds of 

 Portugal cabbage, from which I raised plants, the 

 heads] and hearts of which having been cut and 

 eaten, I allowed some of the branches to flower and 

 bear seed. I laid no obligation on them to be true 

 to the traditions of their family or race, but rather 

 encouraged any vagaries which it might suit them to 

 take, except that I set my face against yellow flowers, 

 destroying any plant where such a colour appeared. 

 This was to preclude suspicion of crossing, as I do 

 not know of any other sort of cabbage with white 

 flowers. My plants ran in the direction of borecole, 

 which is perhaps no great wonder, for in Sweet's 

 " Hortus Britannicus," I find the variety Costata 

 described as having white flowers in a list of 

 varieties under the word Borecole, printed in large 

 letters. In Sutton's " Spring Catalogue" for 1874, 

 Portugal cabbage is called Brassica costata oblonga, 

 so that I have no need for doubt as to the propel 

 name and affinities of my plants. From the seed of 

 one plant saved last year, I have now plants of kale, 

 purplish-green cabbages, with smooth leaves tending 

 to form a head, or it may be a heart as pure and 

 tender as my own, and one at least showing some 

 resemblance to the red cabbages commonly used for 

 pickling. If I had a garden as large as that of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society, I would put these 

 plants in several places, with a view to obtain froin 

 them as many races. As it is, I can only choose 

 that which I like best to perpetuate. This is a sort 

 of variegated kale, which, as it will have white 

 flowers, will, I suppose, be sufficiently distinct for 

 me to boast of having raised it in a few years by 

 selection from the seeds of Portugal cabbage without 

 hybridisation or crossing. 



John Gibbs. 



We are pleased to welcome a new friend and 

 neighbour in the " Essex Naturalist," which hence- 

 forth will appear as the "Journal" and "Trans- 

 actions " of the Essex Field Club, under the 

 editorship of Mr. William Cole, the Hon. Sec. 

 We know of no other field club which has so rapidly 

 come to the front as the "Essex." This first number 

 of the " Essex Naturalist " is eminently readable. 



D 2 



