HARD WICKE ' S S CIE NCE - G O SSIP. 



9 1 



Provincial Societies. — The Transactions of the 

 Hertfordshire Natural History Society and Field Club, 

 vol. iii., part 7, contain (besides meteorological 

 papers relating to Herts), an important one on " The 

 Nests and Eggs of Birds," by Henry Seebohm, 

 F.L.S. ; and the List of Lepidoptera observed in the 

 neighbourhood of Hitchin and Knebworth, Herts, 

 by John Hartley Durrant. The catalogue of the 

 Library of the Society (compiled by Mr. John 

 Hopkinson, F.L.S.) has been published. It shows a 

 capital collection of scientific books and pamphlets, 

 admirably arranged, with list of authors, &c. The 

 Transactions of the East Kent Natural History Society 

 have commenced with a new series. The twenty- 

 eighth Report for last year shows a flourishing state 

 of things ; and it also contains a capital list of books 

 and periodicals. Among the abstracts of papers in 

 the Transactions are one on "Teredo navalis," by 

 Mr. S. Saunders ; " On the connection between 

 Plants and Animals," by Mr. G. Dowker F.G.S. ; 

 "The Cypris Clay of the Weald," by Capt. Mc 

 Dakin ; " Stephanoceros Eichornii," by Mr. T. B. 

 Rosseter ; " Popular Names of British Plants," by 

 Mr. G. H. Nelson, F.G.S. ; "The Marine Aquarium," 

 by Mr. S. Saunders, etc., besides local and general 

 "notes "by the members. The ■Proceedings of the 

 South London Entomological Nattiral History Society 

 for last year contains the address of the President (Mr. 

 R. South), and also a paper by him " On Protective 

 Coloration of Lepidoptera ; " besides which there is 

 a series of entomological notes of exhibits at 

 meetings, etc. The Victorian Naturalist is the 

 Magazine of the Field Club of Victoria, Australia. 

 The last number (9) contains papers on " The Fungi 

 of North Gippsland," by Mr. H. T. Tisdall, F.L.S ; 

 " A Collector's Trip to North Queensland," by Mr. 

 A. W. Coles ; and a " Geological Sketch of South- 

 western Victoria," by Mr. J. Dennant. 



BOTANY. 



Leaf-bloom and Stomata. — Mr. F. Darwin 

 recently read a paper before the Linnean Society 

 "On the Relation between the Bloom on Leaves and 

 the Distribution of the Stomata." " Bloom " on 

 leaves is used by him to mean the coating of minute 

 particles of a waxy character, which is removable 

 by hot water or ether. But gradations occur, from 

 a distinct and appreciable greasiness, throwing off 

 moisture, to such as are easily wetted. A large series 

 of leaves of different groups of plants have been 

 studied by him, and for convenience in the analysis 

 of data he has divided them into four classes. Leaves 

 of Class I. are devoid of bloom on both surfaces, and 

 yield 54 per cent., which have no stomata on the 

 upper surface. In Class II. bloom is deficient above, 

 but present below, and 83 per cent, of the stomata 



are on the leaves' lower surface. Class III. possess 

 bloom on the leaves above, but none inferiorly, and 

 100 per cent, of these have stomata on the upper 

 surface. Class IV. have leaves with bloom on both 

 surfaces, 62 per cent, of them having stomata above. 

 From such analysis and other facts and data given, 

 Mr. Darwin concluded that the accumulation of 

 stomata accompanies that of bloom, and, other things 

 being equal, that it is functionally protective against 

 undue wetting by rain, and injury to the leaf tissue. 



Cardamine pratensis, viviparous. — I have 

 never seen a plant of the normal single form of this 

 flower that was viviparous, but I believe the so-called 

 double variety invariably reproduces itself in this 

 manner, new plants springing from the leaves where 

 they bend down so as to touch the ground. For the 

 information of those of your readers who may not 

 have met with this variety in flower I will mention 

 that it has single blossoms, out* of the centre of which 

 — sometimes directly, sometimes on a tiny stalk — 

 springs a bud that opens into bloom only as the lower 

 petals begin to fade. Your first thought on seeing it 

 is that some child has been there just before you, and 

 has stuck an unopened bud inside each flower for fun. 

 There may be other forms of this double variety, but 

 I have not myself met with them. — G. E. Dartnell. 



Proliferation of Cardamine pratensis. — I 

 have for several years cultivated Cardamine pratensis 

 (the common wild form) with a view to watch the 

 process of proliferation from the leaflets, and my 

 observations have led me to suspect that this process, 

 so far from being exceptional, as is commonly sup- 

 posed, is more likely the usual method by which the 

 plant is propagated. A plant on my lawn, which 

 has had no chance of flowering, has spread in a few 

 years over several square feet. Another plant, in a 

 border, which has not yet flowered, has surrounded 

 itself with several young plants, one of which I last 

 year found still connected with the parent by the 

 withered midrib of a leaf. In that case the prolifera- 

 tion had taken place from a leaflet of a prostrate leaf, 

 and the new plant had rooted in the soil without 

 separation from the parent. In other cases the 

 proliferous leaflet becomes disarticulated and falls. 

 In others again it remains on the parent plant ; and 

 the young plant, failing to reach the soil with its 

 rootlets, perishes. The favourite site of proliferation 

 is close to the base of the leaflet, at the point where 

 the first pair of veins come off from the midrib, and 

 in this situation a careful scrutiny will often detect 

 minute tubercles, which represent the first stage of 

 proliferation, and which may or may not develop 

 into young plants. The process of proliferation is 

 greatly helped by damp, and is best observed on 

 plants kept under glass. — G. F. Burder. 



Plants from the Isle of Wight. — I beg to 

 thank Mr. Warner for his note in the March No. 



