HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



235 



BOTANY, 



Arum italicum. — This plant is mentioned in 

 Hooker's "Flora" as occurring in the Isle of 

 Wight ; but Bentham says the white-veined variety 

 of A. maculatum from the Isle of Wight is some- 

 times mistaken for A. italicum. I have a quantity of 

 tubers of what I believe to be the true variety at the 

 disposal of those readers of Science-Gossip who 

 would like to naturalize them, by planting some in 

 any situation where A. maculatum is established, in 

 any shady lane or hedge-row, or in their own garden. 

 I will forward one or more on receipt of stamped 

 envelope. Larger tubers or extra number will re- 

 quire two stamps for postage. — Dr. Morton, New 

 Brompton, Kent. 



Mould in Herbaria. — May I suggest a plan 

 that I have found to answer when a plant that has 

 been insufficiently dried is attacked by mould. Let 

 the sheet be taken out of herbarium and placed be- 

 tween two thick pieces of blotting-paper. Then iron 

 well with hot iron, changing paper until quite dry. 

 By that time mould will have entirely disappeared. — 

 Fred. W. E. S. 



How to Preserve Colours of Dried Plants. 

 — In the July part (p. 165) a correspondent inquired 

 for a method of preserving the colour of Primula 

 vulgaris and Primula elatior for the herbarium. If 

 the dried plant is painted all over with a mixture of 

 ■one part of nitric acid to about twenty parts of spirits 

 of wine it will retain its colour. I have a specimen 

 of each treated in this manner, and though they have 

 been mounted a long time, both petals and leaves are 

 of the freshest colour. — Fred. W.E.$. 



Flowers of Hollyhock.— On reading what I 

 wrote about the hollyhock, I perceive an ambiguity, 

 arising probably from an error on my part in writing. 

 From seeds proceeding from the same flower, in fact, 

 I have nine plants, four whose flowers have been 

 crimson, one light red, one of darker, richer colour, 

 and one white, which has opened its flowers since I 

 wrote to you last, besides two plants which have not 

 flowered yet at all. Of the plants with white flowers, 

 which came from seeds borne on a branch of the same 

 parent plant and flowered last year, two have blos- 

 somed again this year with white flowers as before ; 

 another, a smaller plant, growing between those two, 

 had not flowered this year till a few days ago, when I 

 was startled by the sight of a crimson flower on a plant 

 whose flowers last year had been white. Here is 

 variability indeed. — yohn Gibbs. 



Verbascum blattaria. — I have found the 

 Moth Mullein ( Verbascum blattaria) in a waste place, 

 near Luton, Beds. It was discovered on a hill-side, 

 above chalk, with flints, by Mr. F. Wiseman, who 

 brought it to me for identification. That you may be 

 assured of its authenticity I enclose one blossom. 



I would send you more, but after the most careful re- 

 examination of the locality we can find no other 

 specimens of it. — y. Saunders. 



Botany of Derbyshire. — The Rev. W. H. 

 Painter desires us to say that he is engaged in editing 

 a Plant-list for Derbyshire, and would be glad to 

 receive communications from any botanist concern- 

 ing it. 



Sugar in the Nectar of Flowers.— This was 

 the subject of a most interesting paper read before 

 the recent meeting of the British Association, by Mr. 

 A. S. Wilson, M.A., of Glasgow. Nectar, he said, 

 is the sweet-tasted fluid secreted within the cups of 

 flowers, and is intended to provide an inducement to 

 cause insects to visit the flowers. These insects 

 confer great benefit on the flowers by assuring their 

 cross fertilization, bringing pollen from other plants 

 and depositing it on their stigmas. The result of 

 this is that the plant is enabled to produce seeds of 

 much greater vigour than it otherwise would. The 

 saccharine fluid is usually contained in the most 

 secluded part of the flower, in order that it may be 

 protected from rain, for, owing to the solubility and 

 the diffusibility of sugar, were it not so protected it 

 would speedily be transferred to parts of the plant 

 where it could be obtained by the insects without 

 their serving the plant in the way of cross fertiliza- 

 tion. The colour, odour, and marking of flowers 

 enable insects to find the nectar more easily. The 

 importance of these insects will be apparent from the 

 smallness of the amounts of sugar found in the flowers 

 experimented on by Mr. Wilson. Flowers of fuchsia 

 yielded a total of 7*59 m.m.g. of sugar ; 1*69 of this 

 was fruit sugar, and 5*9 apparently cane sugar. Of 

 red clover each head gave a total of 7*93 m.m.g., 

 fruit 5 '95' apparent cane sugar 1 "98. On each head 

 of clover there are nearly 60 distinct florets. Calcu- 

 lating from these results there was the astonishing 

 industry of the bee brought out in an extraordinary 

 manner, for in order to obtain the kilo of sugar 

 7,500,000 distinct flowers must be sucked. As 

 honey contained roughly about 75 per cent, of sugar, 

 a bee has then to make two and a half millions of 

 visits in order to collect a pound of honey. It was 

 rather a curious fact that nectar should contain cane 

 sugar, seeing that honey never did ; indeed, were a 

 vendor to sell honey containing cane sugar he would 

 probably be prosecuted under the Adulteration Act. 

 A change must therefore take place while the sugar 

 is in the bee's possession — possibly through the action 

 of the juices with which it comes in contact while in 

 the honey-bag. As nectar is acid in its reaction it is, 

 however, possible that the process of inversion may 

 take place spontaneously. 



Proposed Experimental Garden. — Mr. Lax- 

 ton, Fellow and late Member of the Scientific 

 Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society, 



