258 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



The Black-headed Gull. — I have no doubt Mr. 

 Gurney is correct in his statement in your September 

 number that the common black-headed gull and the 

 American laughing gull are respectively (zoologi- 

 cally) named L. ridibundus and Z. atricilla, but it is, 

 I think, very curious that the word ridibundus should 

 be used to denote " black -headed " and atricilla 

 "laughing" — their respective meanings being re- 

 versed. It looks as though zoological Latin had 

 become somewhat mixed. — J. D. 



S. CoNVOLVULl. — On the 8th of September I 

 took a specimen of the convolvulus hawk moth 

 {Sphinx convolvuli) evidently just out of the pupa. 

 This is the first time I have heard of this moth being 

 taken in Hull. — // Slater. 



BOTANY. 



Male and Female Flowers of Hop. — Climbing 

 up the front of the station buildings here (Paddock 

 Wood, Kent) is a hop-plant, which bears both male 

 and female flowers. Each branchlet of the panicles 

 is tipped by a female cone, which develops into a 

 more or less perfect hop ; the remainder, and by far 

 the majority of the flowers, being male. I find^by 

 inquiring among neighbouring growers that such a 

 plant has been seen but rarely, and is not likely to 

 be encouraged, as being valueless from a commercial 

 point of view. I should be glad to know whether it 

 is recognised as a distinct species, and also, whether 

 in the case of the normal female plant, fertilisation of 

 all the cones can possibly occur, seeing that the pro- 

 portion of male to female plants is very small (many 

 growers planting none), and if fertilisation does not 

 occur, how the great enlargement of the "hop " is to 

 be accounted for, — M. E. Pope. 



White Bartsia Odontites. — Is Bartsia O. with 

 pure white corolla common ? Colonies of dozens of 

 plants flourished this year on the roadside north of 

 Lurgan. The ordinary red-flowered plants were 

 abundant close by, but were not mixed with the 

 white variety. A few years ago there were several 

 cuttings of hills through boulder clay at the locality. — 

 //. W.Lett,M.A. 



Plant-Lore. — Some two or three years ago, when 

 living at Weston-super-Mare, I happenedjto need a 

 few roots of the early orchis {O. mascitla), and 

 knowing that it grew plentifully at some little distance 

 from the town, I asked some of the country people, 

 who were often coming to the house with garden 

 produce, &c., to bring me a few. But they none of 

 ihem knew what an orchis was. I tried to explain 

 in various ways, but without success, till I procured 

 and showed them a flower. "Oh," said they, "we 

 calls them stannen-gusses ;^^ and they seemed to know 

 them by no other name. The orthography of course 



is my own, but it represents the word used as nearly" 

 as I can put it. It would be interesting to know 

 whether the plant goes under this name in other 

 parts of the country, and what may be the origin 

 and meaning of the word. Perhaps some of your 

 correspondents can throw light upon it. — G. iV. 

 Widcombe, Bath. 



Gaelic Names of Plants. — Mr. John Cameron 

 is continuing his important papers in the " Scottish 

 Naturalist " on this subject. 



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

 Painter has now concluded his papers in the " Journal 

 of Botany " on this subject. The lists are very 

 complete, and give full references to authorities, &c. 



Stamens with double Functions. — Dr. F. 

 Midler has discovered in a species of Heerin (be- 

 longing to the Melastomacece) found in the Brazils, 

 that the flowers had two sets of stamens, possessing 

 different functions. One set is distinguished by 

 having short filaments and yellow anthers, and the 

 other by their long filaments and red anthers, the 

 latter being also the colour of the petals. The 

 stamens are so arranged that insects plundering one 

 set of anthers are sure to have their bodies dusted 

 with the pollen of the other set. 



Hydrocharis. — In June I went to some brick 

 ponds near here and brought back some Hydrocharis 

 Mors2is-rainr for my aquarium. Since that time I have 

 observed that when one leaf is detached from the 

 whole plant, that leaf will soon form roots, &c, and 

 make another plant ; which will produce another or 

 more in the same way should one of the leaves become 

 detached. I have never seen this remarkable 

 peculiarity noticed. I should like to know if any 

 other person has observed it. I have also noticed 

 that the Leinnas sometimes attach their thread-like 

 roots to the long petiole of the //. Morsns-rance. 



Flora Europ^a. — I shall be much obliged if 

 one of your numerous correspondents will inform me 

 of the meanings of the following abbreviations in 

 Rabenhorst's "Flora Europrea Algarum : " 



"v.v." — Page 33, line 8, vol. i. (Diatoms). 



Y.s. ,, 33 M ^4 >' »> 



"a.m." „ 33 „ 23 

 "n.v." ,, 34 ,, 17 

 "v.ic." „ 39 „ 27 ,, „ 



"v.i." ,, 107 ,, 24 ,, ,, 



The Silver Sword Plant.— In Scribner's 

 Monthly for June last there appeared an interesting 

 account of a visit, by Constance F. G. Gumming, to 

 what is probably the largest extinct volcano in 

 the world : Haleakala in the Hawaiian group ; the 

 crater being at least 20 miles in circumference and 

 upwards of 2000 feet deep. At certain spots in it is 

 found a beautiful plant known as the silver sword, 

 which has the appearance of being made of finely 



