THE MICROSCOPE. 49 



Calyx of Deutzia gracilis (PL VI., Figs, i, 2, and 3).— Sure, 

 never were more lovely stars presented to us than these. The 

 plant belongs to a very small natural order {Philadelphacece). Four 

 species are cultivated in this country, all characterised by these 

 lovely diamond-spangled stars. D. scahra is in common cultiva- 

 tion, "the rough leaves of which are used in Japan" (its native 

 country) " by polishers " (Lindley's " Vegetable Kingdom," p. 

 750), like the stems of the " Dutch Rush " i^Equisetum hyemale) 

 with us. A lovely companion to this slide may be obtained from 

 the young shoots of this plant {D. scabra), mounted just as they 

 are. Here the stars shine out from a pinky purple ground. 



Pollen of Shamrock (PL VI., Figs. 4 and 5). — "What is the 

 shamrock ? the national badge of Ould Erin." This question 

 has given rise to much discussion. By my valued friend, the 

 late Robert Ball, of Trinity College, Dublin, I was informed that 

 the educated Irish consider Oxalis aceiosella to be the true plant, 

 whilst the common people take the hop-trefoil {lifedicago hipulind) 

 for it, and have curious superstitions connected with finding four- 

 leaved exam])les of it — perhaps on " St. Patrick's day in the 

 morning." The general conclusion is that St. Patrick pointed his 

 hearers for an illustration of the Trinity to the first trifoliate leaf 

 to hand. If preaching in a wood, this might likely be the grace- 

 ful sorrel ; if in the meadows, then the trefoil. As it would be 

 necessary to wait, at any rate, for flowers of O. acefosella, I have 

 examined the pollen of O. floril>u?ida, an almost perennially-bloom- 

 ing, indoor plant, with flowers of a most beautiful rose colour. 

 Finding the pollen in the plant, with its elliptic outline, three deep 

 longitudinal sulci, and punctato-reticulate surface, to agree with 

 that in the slide before us, I think we may conclude that the 

 pollen was from the wood-sorrel. 



EggofBot-Fly (PL VL, Figs. 5— 11).— With reference to H. 

 E. Freeman's remarks (p. 51), the ai)parent "hole " in the egg of 

 bot-fly is really a deep-rounded hollow ; its use, I suspect, to be 

 for attachment of a ligament of union between the lid and the 

 body of the egg-shell. The presence of the basal membranous 

 wings on the shell previous to hatching is a highly curious and 

 suggestive fact. They are special modifications of the alae on 

 the eggs of the lesser house-fly {Miisca domestica). 



Stomach of Bee (PL VI. , Fig. 12). — The distribution of the 

 tracheae to the stomach of bee depends for its value on the 

 number, situation, size, and mode of arborescence. There is no 

 spiral present in the very fine ramifications. A valuable paper on 

 the anatomy of tracheae in insects, by Sir John Lubbock, wiU be 

 found in "Transactions of the Linn.Ean Society," also some 

 useful notes by B. T. Lowne in his work on "The Blow-Fly." 

 New Series. Vol. I. E 



