HA R D IVICKE'S S CIENCE- G OSS/ P. 



45 



their shells and turning to a dirty grey. Four weeks 

 elapsed before any change occurred in the //. 

 nemoralis, which now became quite white around 

 the apex. The unfortunate individual in the card- 

 board box I released after a month's imprisonment, 

 and found that quite half of the lid and bottom of 

 the box had been consumed, and that a broad grey 

 band had formed around the lid. The H. aspersa 

 next became . covered with small porous-like warts, 

 until they resembled pieces of pumice-stone. Upon 

 being placed in the garden, the H. nemoralis soon 

 returned to their former colour, but the II. aspersa 

 kept in this condition for about two months, when I 

 lost them. — W. E. Collinge. 



Rhopalocera in 1SS5. — One thing noteworthy 

 last summer was the great abundance of several 

 species of butterflies. Blues, for example, were very 

 abundant ; I think I hardly ever remember seeing the 

 common blue {Lyarna Icarus) in such profusion. 

 Canonympha Pamphiltts, Pyarga Megcera, Satyrus 

 Tithonus, Pyrameis Atalanta, and Vanessa lo, were 

 also plentiful about the neighbourhood of Cambridge — 

 the last-named species markedly so. Some butterflies 

 too, which, like Colias edusa, are ordinarily scarce, 

 put in an appearance last summer. — Albert II. 

 Waters, B.A. F.S.Sc., etc., Cambridge. 



Mimicry in Bees. — Those who read G. H. 

 Bryan's paper (Science-Gossip, vol. xxi., pp. 241- 

 243), "On Mimicry in Diptera," maybe interested 

 to know that there is an equally good article on 

 another branch on the same subject, " Bees and 

 their Counterfeits, or, Bees, Cuckoo Bees, and Fly 

 Bees," by H. Noel Humphrys, beautifully illustrated 

 with coloured figures and woodcuts, in the " In- 

 tellectual Observer," vol. i., pp. 165-173, for 1862. 

 It is very pleasant reading, and well worth the 

 perusal of all who, like myself, take a pleasure in 

 keeping, studying, and profiting by the honey-bee. — 

 IT. W. Lett, M.A. 



BOTANY. 



The Origin of Cryptogamic Plants. — An 

 interesting paper on " Plant Life " was lately read by 

 Mr. Morris Miles, hon. sec. of the Southampton 

 Literary and Philosophical Society. The author 

 advocated the exhaustive study of the lowest forms 

 of vegetable life as offering a simple epitome of the 

 physiological processes of more complex forms. He 

 also sketched with much ability the geological story 

 of the cryptogams, and expressed his opinion that 

 the whole of the cryptogamic tribes, being fertilised 

 by free-swimming motile cells, were originally of 

 aquatic origin, and that they still pursue the modes 

 of reproduction common to their ancestors. 



DlANTHUS Armeria.— This pretty plant has such 

 conspicuous bright red flowers that wherever it occurs 

 it cannot fail to be noticed. For at least ten years I 

 have observed it in abundance at Racton, Sussex. 

 It was to be seen in the cornfields, by the road-sides, 

 and by paths in the woods in great quantity ; but 

 during the last two seasons it seems to have almost or 

 entirely disappeared — a circumstance I cannot in any 

 way account for. Its recurrence, if such should be 

 the case, I hope to look for. Has any similar dis- 

 appearance been noted ? — F. II. Arnold. 



The Transpiration of Plants. — The Rev. 

 G. Henslow, F.L.S., has been experimenting on 

 the relative effects of different parts of the solar 

 spectrum on transpiration. His experiments prove 

 that Wiesn'er's results are correct ; also, while recog- 

 nising the fact that obscure heat-rays cause a certain 

 amount of loss of water by evaporation, that trans- 

 piration, per se (theoretically distinct from the purely 

 physical process of evaporation, which takes place 

 from all moist surfaces and bodies, dead or alive), is 

 especially referable to those particular bands of light, 

 which are absorbed by chlorophyll ; and that such 

 light, being arrested, is converted into heat, which 

 then raises the temperature within the tissues and 

 causes the loss of water. The only additional fact 

 here advanced, somewhat tentatively, is that yellow 

 light has a retarding influence upon transpiration — 

 that "life" has a retarding influence upon evapora- 

 tion as distinct from transpiration. 



Proliferous Cardamine. — Adverting to Mr. 

 Taylor's note (p. 20) on Cardamine pratensis bearing 

 small plants on the under side of the leaves, the 

 cultivated double form of this species is commonly 

 found with the leaves viviparous, and with the 

 blooms also proliferous, like a hen and chicken 

 daisy. The interest of Mr. Taylor's communication is 

 that he has found the wild, and, I presume, single- 

 flowered form of the species, with viviparous leaves. 

 The fact has been observed previously, vide Dr. 

 Masters's "Vegetable Teratology," p. 170, published 

 by the Ray Society, 1869.-7. 7- Weir. 



Floral Varieties. — Plants of the cuckoo-flower 

 {Cardamine pratensis), bearing gemmae, or small buds, 

 on the leaves, are very common in the damp meadows 

 of this district — from an agricultural point of view, 

 far too common, as the plants spread and form large 

 patches, which do not improve the pasture. Albino 

 varieties of Geranium Robertianiim are not uncom- 

 mon ; but I have not noticed the petals such a pure 

 white colour as Mr. Taylor's specimens : they have 

 usually been a little cloudy. — J. IF. O., Pinner. 



Plants from the Isle of Wight. — The 

 following three plants have been forwarded to me 

 from Ventnor during the past year or so. I do not 

 know if they have been previously recorded in the 



