Bulletin was sent to a Washington botanist who from his of- 

 ficial position might have a special interest in this peculiar 

 spc^cimen and his reply was one that suggested that all the 

 wise men of Gotham are not confined to New York. Here it is ; 



Mr. H. Hehre, 



5621 Central Avenue, 

 Los Angeles, Cal. 

 Dear Sir : 



Your letter of July 5, with accompanying photograph, is 

 received. I think that you were not at home when I called at 

 your place so that I could see your Avonderful new Ilorto- 

 Mechanical creation. I think you are mistaken in the name 

 of the plant. It should be called Hehria humbugiensis. This 

 differs from a Brownea in having three fiowers resembling an 

 Azalia and a fourth resembling some leguminous plant and 

 supported by a wire and attached to something resembling a 

 seed. The trouble with the seed, however, is that it is custom- 

 ary in a germination for the outer seed coat to split from the 

 lower instead of the upper end of the seed and is usually forced 

 oft' by the extending plumule. The plant in the other pot does 

 not. appear to be a seedling, but rather a piece of a branch 

 showing some leaf scars toward the base. The photograph 

 being somewhat out of focus and the venations of the leaves 

 obscured by the coloring makes it rather difficult to give you 

 a determination of the leaves. They are not, however, com- 

 pound leaves and apparently have no relationship to any of- 

 the parts included in the right hand pot. If you have any 

 genuine plants that you wish named at any time, we shall be 

 glad to have specimen of the same by mail,- but please do not 

 waste your time and ours on such faked work as that recently 

 received from you. The attempt is too crude to pass even an 

 amateur. " Very truly yours, 



Our worthy Secretary was disposed to resent the imputa- 

 tion of fraud in this letter as reflecting on l)oth our knowledge 

 and integrity, but to some of us it afforded such a joyous 

 glimpse of the potentialities of scientific doubt that we tran- 

 ssribed it for our readers' pleasure and have filed the letter 

 among the Academy's archives for the amusement and possible 

 instruction of our successors. Mr. Hehre mailed the plant in 

 question to the doubting botanist and while it was sufficient to 

 convince him of his error, I fear it spoiled the humor of the 

 situation for him. We may here add that the plant in question 

 produced a leaf below on the flower stalk and apparently is 

 now growing in the normal way. 



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