Mlscellanea 113 



The Statistical prcsenteil in tliis papor sliow tliat tho iiifiorescences of tlie Mosoatel vary 

 considerably fi'oin tlio normal tjpc. A normal inflorescence consisting of fivo flowcrs has one 

 tetranic.rous aiul four pontamerous, tliat is, a perceiitago ratio of 20 to 80, bat the ratio of the 

 observod pcrccntagus is as 33' 1 to f>ü"3. The Variation froni the normal type thercfore favoiirs 

 the tetrameroiis type more than tlie pontamerous ty[io, while siiorts occur in tlie form of 3-, C-, 

 7-, aiid 8-partite corollas though these form less than 2 per cent. of the total. 



NOTE. 



At the snggestion of Prof. Karl Pearson sevei-al olJ herbaria at Kew, the British Museum 

 and at {Cambridge were examined in order to see whether any of the speciniens agree with the 

 figure given in Gerard's Berbcil, 2nd Ed., p. lOOl (edited by Thos. Johnson). None were 

 found exhibiting the peculiar racemose arrangement which is so niarked in his drawing. The 

 first edition (publislied 1597) has an entirely different figure of Adoxa, which has evidently been 

 borrowed from the Kriiiitn- Buch of Tabcrniemontanus. In this case all the lateral flowers are 

 tetramerous. 



I am indebted to Miss K. M. Hall, Curator of the Stepney Borough Museum, for niuch lielp 

 and many useful suggestions. 



REFERENCES. 



Eichler. Blutendiagi-amme. 1875 — 1880. 



Engler and Prantl. Die Naturalichen Pflanzenfamilicn. 1891. 



GiLTAY. " Ueber Abnormitäten in der Bl. von A. mosfhatellina." Xederlandsch Kruidkundig 

 Archief, 2 ser. in. 4, p. 434. 



Henslow, llev. tt. " Ou the Origin of Floral .Estivatious." Trans. Lin. Soc. (Botauy), 

 2nd ser., Vol. i. p. 194. 



Masters. Vegetable Teratology. (Ray Soc.) 18G9. 



Wtdler. "Morphologische Mitteilungen, Adoxa moschatellina." Bot. Zeitung, 1844, p. 657. 



IV. Seasonal Change in the Characters of Aster prenanthoides, Muhl. 



In the last number of Bioiuetrilcd (pp. .304 — 315) a colleetion of evidence was p\ibli.shed, 

 showing the existence of periodic changes in tlie mean and modal numbers of floral organs, 

 and in the constants expressing the Variation of these numbers, in several plants. Just before 

 the pnblication of this article, Mr G. H. Shull published in the American Naturalist, Vol. .\xxvi. 

 No. 422, an elaborate " Quantitative Study of Variation in the Bracts, Rays and Disk-florets 

 "of Aster Shurtii Hook., A. Nocae AmjUae L., ^-1. puniceus L., and A. prenanthoides Muhl., 

 "from Yellow Spring.s, Ohio." In this paper the constants expres.sing the Variation in and 

 correlation between bracts, rays, and disk-florets are fidly determiued for each species ; and in 

 addition, the author describes the results obtained by examining four sets of flowers, collected 

 from the sanie series of individuals of ,4. prenaiithaides on four different days. The first of 

 these four gatherings was made ou September 27, the last on October 8 ; a coniparison between 

 Biometrikii ii 15 



