136 Macfarlane, The Sensitive Movements of some Flowering Plants. 



V. s. in herb. Berol. ; v. c. ex hortis Florent., Lips. et academiae technicae 

 Carlsr. 



Anm. Die Pflanze ist nicht „glaberrimum", wie Decaisne in Nouv. Arch. 

 Mus. (2) IL 18 angibt, sondern in dem Blütenstande schwach behaart ; allerdings 

 fast kahl (inflorescentia pubeiula, subglabra). 



L. Japonicum Thunb. Foliis coriaceis, corollae tubo calyce 

 paulo usque 3V2plo, plerumque duplo, raro 3plo longiore, petalis 

 minus acutis quam in specie antecedente. — Inflorescentia glabra 

 v. puberula. 



Japan. Nagasaki: Maxim, iter secund. (1863; floribus 

 et fructubus), Ol d harn n. 539 herb. Götting. non herb. Berol., 

 R. Oldham sine n. herb. Berol. — Ex Japonia sine locis: Teuter[?] 

 leg.; herb. Lugd.- Bat. comm. — ? Yokohama: Maxim, iter 

 secund. (a. 1863; specimen fructiferum, quod ob folia subcoriacea 

 L. ovalifolium Hassk. non esse videtur). 



V. s. in herb. Berol. et Götting. V. c ex hortis Florent. et Lips. 



Anm. Nach Forbes und Hemsley (1. c, siehe vorige Art) hat L. Japonicum 

 Thunb., zu welchem sie aber auch L. ovalifolium Hassk. rechnen, folgende Ver- 

 breitung: China, Japan und Bonin-Inseln. 



Karlsruhe, 12. December 1894. 



The Sensitive Movements of some Flowering Plants 



under Oolored Screens. 



Dr. J. M. Macfarlane, 



Professor of Botany, University of Pennsylvania. 



Fully a year ago I delivered a lecture to the workers at the 

 Woods Holl Biological Institute, entitled „Irrito-contractility in 

 plants" (see Naturwissenschaftliche Rundschau. 1894. p. 379.) On 

 that occasion I concurred in the view previously propounded by 

 a couple of investigators in the same field of study, that the 

 paraheliotropic movements executed by sensitive plants were due, 

 chiefly or entirely, to the action of solar heat rays. Various obser- 

 vations and experiments, made during the past winter and spring, 

 led nie to conclude that the above Interpretation was incorrect, and 

 that certain of the light rays started the movements. Some of the 

 experiments seemed turther to indicate that the blue-violet or more 

 refrangible rays of the spectrum were the exciting agents. 



To test these points more exactly, studies were made during 

 the past summer on different groups of sensitive plants, but in the 

 present paper I propose dealing mainly with Cassia nictitans, 

 C. chamaecrista, C. Tora and Oxalis stricta. The species of Cassia 

 just named show sensitivity to external Stimuli in the order in 

 which they have been given ; the first is markedly sensitive, hence 

 the populär name of Wild Sensitive Plant, the second is decidedly 

 less sensitive, and the third is least so. 



