BOTANICAL GAZETTE. I91 



Gonolobus Shortii, G. obliquus, var. Shortii, differs from G. obliquus 

 in corolla-lobes more broadly ligulate and obtuse, dark-purple; stamineal 

 crown with about 10-dentate margin, the longer teeth thinnish and nar- 

 rower, from emarginate to 2-parted, the alternate broader ones thickish 

 and more or less fleshy-appendaged within.— I wish to call attention to 

 this on the part of botanists who may reside in, or may visit the district 

 it inhabits. Dr. Short collected it near Lexington, Kentucky, and noted 

 that the blossoms had the scent of those of Calymnthus, as also they 

 have a similar color. The specimen 1 had to examine was greatly in- 

 jured; else I might at the first have detected the characters which clear- 

 ly distinguish it from G. obliquus, and associate it rather with G. 

 Carolinensis. Dr. Chapman has collected it near Rome, Georgia (where 

 G. obliquus also grows), and has furnished good flowering specimens. 

 The fruit is still a desideratum. — A. (J ray. 



The Stigma of Catalpa.— At p. 171, this volume, it is noted that at 

 Lansing, Mich., the flattened lobes of the stigma in Catalpa speciosa 

 "close in a few seconds after they are touched, close before a bee backs 

 out of the flower." If this observation be correctly made, it will afford 

 another character by which this species may be distinguished from C. 

 bignonioides. I have timed this by the watch and never found one to 

 be closed under 45 seconds, and half a dozen bees could enter and depart 

 in that time. Aside from this it will be of great interest if this rapid 

 closing in this plant should be confirmed. There are many species be- 

 longing to Bignoniacece and Scrophulariacece which have these irritable 

 stigmatic lobes. I have timed many of them. The most rapid in my 

 experience was the common garden Mimulus, but this took 15 seconds. 

 A bee is seldom more than from 3 to 5 seconds in anv of these flowers. 



— T. M. 



More about Katinesque.- As an appendix to the interesting sketch 

 of Rahnesque, in the January number of the Gazette, the following 

 excerpt from the diary of Audubon, giving an account of a visit from 

 this "odd fish," will be relished by those who have not seen it before. 

 Audubon at the time was living in Kentucky. lie says: "I presented 

 my learned guest to my family, and was ordering a servant to go to the 

 boat for my friend's luggage, when he told me he had none but what he 

 had brought on his back. He then loosened the pack of weeds which 

 had first drawn my attention. The naturalist pulled off his shoes, and 

 while engaged in drawing his stockings down to hide the holes in his 

 heels, he explained that his apparel had suffered from his journey. His 

 attire struck me as exceedingly remarkable. A long loose coat of yellow , 

 nankeen, much the worse for the many rubs it had got in its time, and 

 stained all over with the juice of plants, hung loosely about him like a 

 sack. A waistcoat of the same with enormous pockets, and buttoned up 

 to the chin, reached below over a pair of tight pantaloons, the lower 

 part of which were buttoned down to the ankles. His beard was as long 

 as I have known my own to be during some of my peregrinations, and his 

 lank black hair hung loosely over his shoulders. His forehead was so 

 broad and prominent that any tyro in phrenology would instantly have 



