HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



225 



shown in Fig. 146 ; its position is generally inclined 

 towards the horizontal, the three most prominent 

 lobes being undermost, and standing out as they do 

 beyond the others, they form a convenient platform 

 for insects to settle upon before entering the store- 

 house. The lobes are spread out, except at night-time 

 when they slightly close over ; the rest of the corolla 

 consists of a narrow tube tapering towards the base. 

 The stigma, which with its style, fits closely against 

 the upper part of the corolla and reaches that part 

 where the two less prominent lobes begin to spread out, 

 is in two flat angular pieces, the lower one hanging 

 down and opening wider as an insect rubs against it, 

 vhen entering the tube, and closing as it withdraws. 

 The four stamens start from the base of the coroda, 

 are attached to it for a short distance, and then bend 

 round and upwards, so as to bring the filaments close 

 to the style. The various lengths of the important 

 parts measured from the base are approximately as 

 follows :■ — 



Corolla to extremity oflowest lobe 

 Stamens ..... 

 Pistil 



ii' 



16 



I! I 



Tube at longest part 

 Tube at shortest part 



about \\' 

 about jV 



This leaves about an eighth of an inch from fila- 

 ments to stigma. From the base of the centre, i.e. 

 the lowest or most prominent lobe to the base of the 

 corolla, there runs a straight groove formed by a 

 ridge caused by the bending of the flower on either 

 side, and there are also two other side grooves, each 

 bounded on the outside by a less defined ridge ; the 

 side grooves are curved. Down the centre of each 

 groove is a dark line nearly to the base ; there are 

 also several other dark lines running towards the base 

 on the ungrooved parts of the corolla, but these are 

 all slightly curved. The two centre ridges have a 

 few dark yellowish spots on them, and all the ridges 

 are covered for a short distance from the opening with 

 fine hairs, inclined outwards, the two middle ones 

 being very plentifully covered so as to form a downy 

 coat. Fig. 147 is the corolla laid open and showing die 

 dark lines. I take it they serve as sign posts to guide 

 insects to the nectar ; for, alighting on a flower, they 

 are attracted by them and induced to carry their ex- 

 plorations further inwards. The object of the fine 

 downy hairs is, I conceive, to regulate the size of the 

 opening and the entrance to tube, so as to fit insects 

 of different sizes and ensure the upper parts of their 

 heads or bodies rubbing the stigma. Thus, a small 

 insect would be borne up and against the stigma, 

 while a larger insect would press the hairs down and 

 t.us secure a wider opening. By this means a greater 

 variety of fertilising agents would be made available. 

 The centre groove too, gives an insect room to work 

 its proboscis forward without altering its general 

 elevation, and the side grooves may receive its feet. 

 Then again, the distance between filaments and 

 stigma, about one-eighth of an inch, allows plenty of 



space for security against self-fertilization. The insect 

 on first entering, rubs against the stigma and passes 

 on and presses against the pollen bags, from which 

 some of the pollen adheres to its head or body ; in 

 retiring, it closes the stigma, so that no pollen can 

 rest on- its surface; proceeding to another flower it 

 there in entering, deposits pollen on the open stigma, 

 thus securing a cross, if not on a flower of a different 

 plant, at any rate on a different flower of the same 

 plant. 



GOSSIP ON CURRENT TOPICS. 

 By W. Mattieu Williams, F.R.A.S., F.C.S. 



EARTHQUAKE Prospects of London.— The 

 brown pall of mysterious cloud-matter that 

 so suddenly buried the whole of London and its 

 suburbs in dreadful darkness on the morning of 

 September 4, produced something approaching to a 

 mild panic among many. The newspapers of the 

 day before were crowded with details of the Charles- 

 ton earthquake, and allusions to its possible con- 

 nection with that of Greece, besides some speculations 

 suggesting further extensions of general subterranean 

 disturbance. The idea that we are in the midst of a 

 general earthquake epoch seems to have gone abroad, 

 and gloomy warnings in the sky are expected by 

 some, but unfortunately for those who dwell in earth- 

 quake-stricken regions, no such warning precedes the 

 disasters. 



The inhabitants of London and its suburbs have 

 unquestionably more to fear from an earthquake, if 

 it should reach them, than those of any other city in 

 Europe. Of all ordinary buildings, not specially 

 constructed for earthquake resistance, those which 

 have the thickest walls, and are constructed of the 

 biggest blocks of stone, have proved to be the most 

 capable of surviving severe shocks. London is a city 

 of tall houses built of little bricks. The older houses 

 have walls 14 to 24 inches thick, made of fairly 

 good bricks, held together with honest mortar. The 

 modern "genteel villas" and "family mansions" 

 of the suburbs, to which the snug citizen retires after 

 business hours, in order to breathe the country air and 

 exhalations of the family sewer, are usually built of 

 rotten bricks, (faced, of course) resting loosely on 

 crumbling mortar made of a little lime mixed with dust- 

 hole refuse instead of sand. The walls thus built being 

 but 9 inches thick, and held upright by feeble joists 

 and rafters, cannot bear the least displacement, without 

 a downcrash of the whole fabric. A tremor that 

 would barely disturb the inhabitants of Tokio, will 

 kill half a million of Londoners. 



Fortunately for the metropolis of the world, it is 

 built on a thick deposit of clay or gravel. These, 

 especially the latter, have little elasticity suitable for 

 the transmission of earth tremors. The Japanese, 



