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HARDW1CK&S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



the raison d'etre of these lines or splashes in the 

 Rhododendron. 



Secondly, with regard to the form of the corolla. 

 This, as in all Ericaca?, is monopetalous. When 

 pulled off and examined, it is found to be curiously 

 folded and plaited, especially near the base of the 

 tube on the upper side. A cross section taken near 

 the base is fairly represented by fig. 122 (magnified). 

 It will be seen from the figure that the dorsal fold is 

 so deep and perfect as to form a tube or canal. This 

 channel gradually shallows out at the point where the 

 honey is always found. What is its use ? At first 

 sight it appears as though the honey were secreted by 

 the corolla itself at the point where found, but such is 

 not the case. On pulling off the corolla, the honey will 

 be seen oozing from the upper side of the base of the 

 ovary. The use, then, of this fold appears to be to 

 act as a tube for the passage of honey from the base 

 of the corolla to a point nearer its mouth where it is 

 more readily accessible to insects of a large size. 

 The honey, doubtless, passes up this tube by means 

 of capillary attraction. 



The stamens are very peculiar, as will be seen from 

 fig. 120. The lower half is thickly covered with stiff 

 glandular hairs of very various forms and lengths. 

 Some of these forms are represented in fig. 121. One 

 use of these hairs is, perhaps, by firmly interlocking, 

 to strengthen the stamens, and enable them the better 

 to resist the pressure of insects alighting upon them ; 

 but the principal one, I should think, is by means of 

 their crowding and intertwining, to prevent smaller 

 insects, that would be incapable of carrying on the 

 work of fertilization, from penetrating to and carry- 

 ing off the honey, which is the incentive to the visit 

 of those larger insects that are capable of performing 

 the task. The bottom of the stamens, as shown in 

 fig. 120, is free from hairs, and rests in a groove in the 

 hypogynous disc that surrounds the base of the ovary. 

 This insertion in a groove and close application to 

 the ovary cannot fail to give additional stability and 

 strength to the stamens as a whole, while it most 

 effectually prevents any insect from arriving at the 

 source of the honey. 



The imperfectly ten-celled ovary, with its surround- 

 ing secreting disc, is represented by fig. 119. The 

 upper two lobes only of this disc, which are larger 

 than the rest, appear to be concerned in secreting, 

 or, at all events, in pouring out the honey. 



This paper is written, not as an exhaustive account 

 of the flower of the Rhododendron, but as an incen- 

 tive to further examination by others. As my oppor- 

 tunities of observation are small, I feel sure that 

 those more favourably situated may, by a little atten- 

 tion, show us many curious and highly-interesting 

 points that I have altogether overlooked ; and I, for 

 one, should be very glad to get a fuller and more 

 perfect account of this plant. 



Rochester. J. HF.rwoRTH. 



ACCLIMATIZATION OF PALMS. 

 By Staff-Surgeon R. Nelson, R.N. 



PLANTS differ greatly from animals in the close- 

 ness of their adaptation to meteorological and 

 other conditions ; hence, on the one hand, while in 

 England, we can have parrots, monkeys, lions, tigers, 

 and other tropical and sub-tropical animals, live with 

 us during winter, and even the polar bear look as 

 pleased as a bear can look during our hot summer 

 months ; we lose, on the other hand, the enjoyment 

 of many beautiful wild flowers and magnificent forest 

 trees which enliven the scenery and greatly enhance 

 the pleasure of the traveller abroad. 



Who that has travelled much does not remember 

 the pleasure, nay, the rapture which he felt as he 

 neared his first foreign port — say Madeira, for in- 

 stance — in beholding the luxuriant "feathery palm- 

 trees rise," as Heber sung when he linked them 

 together with other of our earthly conceptions of 

 "the better land." They are undoubtedly the first 

 objects which forcibly strike the wanderer, and enable 

 him to realize that his dear old home is far behind, 

 and that he is, indeed, in a distant land. There is 

 nothing so thoroughly foreign to the eye, and few 

 objects in nature more attractive. The long-tailed 

 Celestial, the almond-eyed "Jap," and the black- 

 skinned negro, have been long familiar in our streets, 

 but the palm stands out in broad relief as the first 

 novelty which attracts attention abroad. 



Having lately spent some months in Shanghai, I 

 have been led to these remarks by observing, during 

 the present severe winter, how well the few palm- 

 trees planted there have withstood the rigour of the 

 climate, and was first forcibly struck with the subject 

 when, one bitterly cold morning, a friend called my 

 attention to the almost anomalous condition of nature, 

 that the palm-trees were covered with snow ; and 

 very pretty objects they were. 



What genus or species of Palmacese they belong to 

 I cannot at present discover, but doubtless many 

 readers of Science-Gossip know which are the 

 hardiest of the order. That the specimens planted 

 along the Bund of Shanghai are as graceful as the 

 lofty cocoa-nut trees of Ceylon, or the Sago-palm of 

 Borneo I do not maintain ; but they are well worthy 

 of the attention of those interested in the acclimati- 

 zation of plants, for few things would add more to 

 the beauty of our parks, or better set off a landscape 

 than endogenous trees, of which our climate has, or 

 is supposed to have, deprived us. 



Shanghai is situated on the Woosung river, about 

 twelve miles above its junction with the mighty 

 Yang-tze-Kiang ; the country around is perfectly flat, 

 and the soil alluvial. Although so far south as 31° 

 N. lat., 20 below the south of England, the winter 

 is rigorous, and altogether the climate bears a most 

 remarkable contrast to places in the western hemi- 



