396 NATURAL SCIENCE. Nov.. 



fact, I am quite willing to rest my case on the habits of the various members of the 

 order Steganopodes ; the better they swim, the worse they fly, and vice versa. As 

 for the Frigate Bird, so far as habits go, he can scarcely be deemed aquatic at all, 

 but rather "a creature of the upper air," " never alighting on land nor resting upon 

 the water." 



There are still many points of interest in the tendons of the bird's foot, and 

 " one of these days " I hope to take up the subject again. 



Frederic A. Lucas. 



If in my note in the September number I did not rightly apprehend Mr. Lucas's 

 position, the misapprehension is the less to be regretted as it has called forth another 

 interesting note from him. It seems that we are in agreement on the immediate 

 point, and differ only on a point on which zoologists may well expect divergence. 

 An argument involving the terms "effect of disuse," " rudiment," and " phylogeny," 

 cannot be entered on in the affix to a letter, and I am content for the present to 

 accept Mr. Lucas's re-statement of his position. P. C. M. 



Dispersal of the Nutlets in a Labiate. 



A PROFOS of Miss Pertz's interesting paper on the " Dispersal of Nutlets in 

 certain Labiates," a member of the British Association asked, at the time the paper 

 was read, what was the advantage to the plant of the reflexed hairs in the calyx of 

 Teiicrium Scorodonia ; and he drew on the blackboard a section of the calyx, showing 

 the hairs well reflexed. No answer was offered at the time. A solution at once 

 occurred to me, that the hairs were of use in preventing the nutlets from dropping 

 out, as soon as mature, at the foot of the plant ; an impediment, such as a ring of 

 hairs, would retain the ripened nutlets in the calyx till a strong enough wind arose 

 to overcome the resistance, and flirt the nutlets out to a distance from the parent 

 plants. The puzzle was, why should the hairs, which are rather stiff when mature, 

 be reflexed ? a position likely to defeat the supposed object. 



After examining several plants this autumn of Teucrium Scorodonia , I do not find 

 that the hairs in the calyx are reflexed in the living plant. When the corolla has 

 fallen, the hairs, which hitherto have been pressed erect between the corolla 

 and calyx tubes, begin to descend, moving very gradually through an arc of 

 90 degrees, till they finally assume a horizontal position ; their curved, flexible tips 

 meeting and interlacing just above the maturing nutlets. When these are matured, 

 the ring of hairs is just so rigid that a violent shaking of the plant is required to eject 

 them ; and it is obvious that the force which is sufficient to do this will be enough 

 to throw them to some distance. It thus appears that the obstruction offered by the 

 spreading hairs in the calyx actually assists in the wider dispersal of the nutlets ; 

 while the slight upward curve of the four teeth forming the lower lip of the calyx 

 would, perhaps, have a similar tendency, giving an upward direction to the flight of 

 the nutlets, when shot out by any violent motion. A free course is allowed them, 

 so far as the upper lip of the calyx is concerned ; for in this species it is remarkably 

 bent back, almost at right angles to the calyx-tube. 



E. F. Linton. 



The Museums' Association. 

 As one of the executive of the Dublin local committee, I confess I read with 

 indignation the note "Science at a Picnic" in the August number of Natural 

 Science. Such a heading, savouring of the up-to-date style of a branch of London 

 journalism, sounds inviting. The correcting reply from the Association Secretaries 

 in this month's number (p. 319) shows how inaccurate and misleading the statements 

 made under the above title were, and one would have been content to say no more 

 had not you, as Editor, practically repeated (p. 320) the earlier statements, with now 

 accompanying and apparently justifying explanations. The meeting lasted foxir days, 

 not three, as stated. The President's address, though printed in the August number 

 as the most important contribution to the meeting, is not admitted as part of the 

 Association proceedings. The only day of the four not as full as it could well be of 



