HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



211 



minated, but the plants had not vital force enough 

 to live through the summer. The nine which I 

 transplanted did not flower till this year, and they 

 have not all flowered now. Three of them are like 

 the one from the lower part of the spike one is much 

 darker, and with many a blossom, having six petals. 

 The plants from the lateral spike having all white 

 flowers, that those from the main spike should pre- 

 sent this richer colour, is what I did not expect. 

 I suppose the variability displayed in this instance 

 may be dependent on the fact that the parent plant 

 from which the seeds were gathered was itself derived 

 from a seed on the upper part of a stem. But there 

 is one plant whose flowers are yet unopened ; and 

 from what I can make out by examining the bud, it 

 seems as if its flowers would be white. This is so 

 inexplicable as to make me examine my memory as 

 to the possibility of errors, but I trust you will believe 

 me that I cannot imagine any source of error as to 

 the seeds being those of the same plant, and so far as 

 I have reason to believe, four plants with crimson 

 flowers, one with rather lighter, two with deeper, 

 richer colour, and one whose blossoms will also spring 

 from seeds proceeding from the same flower. I 

 enclose flowers, the two white being of plants from 

 seeds on the lateral spike, the others from the main 

 spike, the most diverse from one of the upper flowers ; 

 the one from the lowest flower undistinguishable 

 from three others. — John Gibbs. 



How to grow Filmy Ferns. — A writer in The 

 Garden gives the following interesting instructions. 

 Any one interested in these most beautiful of ferns 

 may grow them successfully without covering them 

 with bell-glasses or keeping them in warm houses. 

 In confirmation of this we may refer to a houseful of 

 them in the Boxhill Nursery. It is of small dimen- 

 sions and sunk in the ground, so that the eaves of the 

 roof, which is of octagon shape, are only just above 

 the surface. It is entered by means of rustic steps 

 through a narrow span-roofed house, in which hardy 

 British ferns are growing amongst virgin cork. The 

 inside of the Filmy Fern-house is lined in the first 

 place with old railway sleepers, placed in an upright 

 position, and which support the roof. These are 

 covered with virgin cork, on which are growing 

 various kinds of ferns. The Filmy varieties consist 

 of fine specimens of Trichomanes. Radicans, Todca 

 Superba, T. Pdlucida, and others are growing in 

 pots or pans placed on a bank raised three feet or so 

 above the ground-floor, and extending all round the 

 house, excepting at the doorway. The side walls 

 are built with rough stones, among which grow club- 

 mosses and small ferns. A canvas shading under the 

 roof is left there summer and winter, but no means 

 are provided for heating the house artificially. 

 Inside it is easily kept damp and close, and under 

 such conditions Filmy Ferns grow remarkably well, 

 both in summer and winter. 



Dimorphism in the Rubiace^e. — Mr. C. B. 

 Clarke, in a paper on this subject read before the 

 Linnoean Society, shows that there are two kinds of 

 dimorphism in the RubiaceiE. The group is known 

 to be largely dimorphic, the variations consisting 

 chiefly in the lengths of the style and stamens. Mr. 

 Clarke's two forms of dimorphism are as follows : — 

 I. Where the point of insertion of the stamens is 

 altered, being situate in one form high above the 

 middle of the corolla tube, and in another form at 

 the base of the corolla tube. 2. Where there are two 

 kinds of fruit, one corresponding to a sessile flower, 

 and another to a peduncled flower. 



"Flowers, their Origin, Shapes, Per- 

 fumes, and Colours." By J. E. Taylor,F.L.S., 

 &c. A second edition of this work has already 

 been called for, and has just been published. The 

 author has corrected various errors which almost un- 

 avoidably creep into a work of this kind, touching as 

 it does on such a multiplicity of subjects. An 

 American edition has also been prepai - ed and sent 

 over. The rapidity with which this book has gone 

 off, whilst gratifying to the author, is a sure token of 

 the widespread interest taken by the public in the 

 leading scientific questions of the day. 



Botanical Notes. — Arum italiatm. — This plant 

 as many of your readers are aware, is much more 

 abundant than Macidatum in Jersey, and, I believe, 

 Guernsey. Orobanche major and Linum perenne. — 

 Can your correspondent, C. Parkinson, inform me if 

 the specimens of O. major, " parasitical on ivy," and 

 Linum perenne," in field," noticed in Isle of Wight, 

 have been verified, as the undoubted occurrence of 

 these plants would be interesting? — G. C. Druce. 



GEOLOGY, 



The Physical History of the English Lake- 

 district. — This was the subject of a paper read by 

 Mr. J. Clifton Ward, F.G.S., in which the authortraces 

 the physical history of the Lake-district from the com- 

 mencement of the period when the Skiddaw slate 

 was deposited. To this succeeded the volcanic 

 Borrowdale series, which is followed, after a physical 

 break, by the Coniston Limestone. Between this 

 and the succeeding Silurian deposits there is little, if 

 any, break. Thus, in the Lake-district, the break 

 between Upper and Lower Silurian is physically 

 below the Coniston Limestone, though palseontologi- 

 cally it is above it. The Old Red Sandstone period 

 was one of denudation, which was continued into 

 the Carboniferous period ; and perhaps the whole 

 district was actually covered by the sea during the 

 maximum depression of the Lower Carboniferous 

 epoch. Since then it has probably never been sub- 

 merged, but exposed to continuous subaerial denu- 

 dation. The physical significance of the Mell Fell 

 (Lower Carboniferous) conglomerates received special 



