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235 



Gio consequence what you call a plant ; but it is of con- 

 sequence as to what position you put the plant in 

 in the scale of life. Our only apology for the long 

 scientific names that so terrify the general public is 

 that they are necessary to secure precision of ideas 

 amongst botanists who live wide apart, and to avoid 

 the uncertainties that attend local common names. 

 Nevertheless, every new edition of our standard works 

 plunges us into greater uncertainty than if we relied 

 upon the popular names. Why, for example, should 

 the long-familiar name of Chlora perfotiata be changed 

 into the uncouth Blackstonia ? and why won't Car- 

 .dutts do as well for thistle as the unpronounceable 

 Cnicus 1 There can be no good reason for a change 

 of name when once it has come into use. Priority of 

 nomenclature to all such considerations is nothing 

 compared with the question of general recognition and 

 custom, because the name is no part of the thing 

 itself, but only what we designate it. A name is 

 only useful when it precisely indicates what we are 

 talking about ; but if there is a fresh synonym 

 ■every few years, there will be no end to the words 

 required to extricate ourselves from confusion. There 

 can be only one object in making these alterations, 

 •and that is to compel botanists to buy the new 

 editions. The rich and leisurely like new books, and 

 .to them these changes are of little moment ; but it is 

 because the rich .buy them that the poor botanist 

 must do likewise, or find himself regarded with some 

 disdain as being behind in the march of progress. 

 Botanists must strongly protest against this state of 

 things, or they will become more and more at the 

 mercy of book publishers. — John Hamson, Bedford. 



The British Fauna and Flora.— Some years 

 ago an extra number of Science-Gossip was pub- 

 Jished, devoted to the British Hepatica?, giving short 

 •descriptions and figures of the species. Could it be 

 .•so arranged that this plan might be carried on, and 

 extended to other subjects? There seems to be a 

 .dearth of accurate collectors' lists in the different 

 .branches of our fauna and flora. In the case of the 

 ifauna more particularly so. The wild flowers are 

 •well represented in the ' ' London Catalogue, " &c. But 

 imosses, hepaticae, algse, ferns, grasses, fungi, &c., 

 anight each form the subject of a separate number or 

 ■numbers. It would, I do not doubt, be a great boon 

 <to the readers of Science-Gossip and many others, if 

 periodically — say every six months — an extra number 

 was published, giving lists with short descriptions, 

 and when possible, illustrations, covering in the 

 course of time, all British species. We should then 

 have in a complete, accurate, cheap form, good 

 working lists that could be interleaved at a trifling 

 expense to be used as guide and note-book. To 

 persons devoting time to the study of the natural his- 

 tory of any given district, the help afforded by such 

 handy lists would be invaluable. — C. T. Micsson, 

 Nottingham. 



Fertilisation oe Flowers. —Since reading Mr. 

 Paulson's communication respecting the fertilisation 

 of Antirrhinum majus by bees, a parallel circumstance 

 has come under my notice. A few days ago I noticed 

 a common honey-bee searching about amongst the 

 blossoms of a columbine plant, and on looking to see 

 the method which it adopted for extracting the honey, 

 I saw that, instead of entering the corolla of the 

 flower, it alighted on the outside of the thin end of 

 the tube and pierced a hole in it with its proboscis, 

 and so obtained access to the honey which might be 

 inside : in that manner it visited flower after flower. 

 I gathered several blossoms, and found they were all 

 pierced more or less, the tubes of the one from which 

 I drew the accompanying illustration being a perfect 

 network of holes in the small end. They are not 

 easily detected from outside ; but if the flower be held 

 up against the light, so that the observer may look 

 into the mouth of the corolla as into a tube, the 

 punctures will be seen very distinctly, and will gene- 

 rally be found to be very numerous ; but it is possible 

 that some of them may be the work of other insects. 

 I have since noticed one of the smaller humble bees 

 visiting the inside of the flowers and collecting pollen 

 from the stamens. — J. Herbert Allchin, Sutton 

 Valence, Kent. 



Cyclamen Heder.-efolium. — I should be glad if 

 any informant can tell me of the occurrence of this 

 plant in a wild state in Sussex during the last thirty 

 years, as I find it still included in the Sth "London 

 Catalogue." In the " Thytologist " of 1852, Mr. 

 Newman says, " I have never seen this plant in a native 

 locality, but have a fine root purchased of the late 

 James Potter, and said by him to have been found in 

 Sussex." Mr. Hemsley mentions a single plant found 

 in 1850 by Mr. W. W. Saunders, near Hastings, since 

 destroyed. Since collectors continue to apply to 

 Sussex botanists for this plant, if it is extinct, or 

 probably so, it may be well to place the fact on 

 record. — F. IF. Arnold. 



The " London Catalogue " and Hooker's 

 " Flora."— Mr. Hamson and Mr. W. G. Wheatcroft 

 seem to have ignored a matter of no little importance — 

 namely, that botanical classification and nomencla- 

 ture are not yet amongst the exact sciences, like 

 mathematics ; change and improvement are still 

 possible. Of Mr. Hamson's almost petulantly ill- 

 tempered strictures concerning the new edition of 

 Sir J. D. Hooker's Flora, little need be said, except 

 that the spirit they breathe will rob them of much 

 of their intended effect. If Mr. Hamson prefer to 

 adhere to custom, he is, of course, perfectly free so 

 to do ; doubtless it will be convenient to him, but in 

 so doing he parts company from the noble brother- 

 hood of scientific men who prefer advancement at any 

 cost to stagnation, and whose bitterest and most stub- 

 born foe has been custom. Mr. Wheatcroft complains 

 of the substitution of unfamiliar names for many of 



