284 BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 



Notelets.— It is well known that the milkweeds (Aselepias) often catch in- 

 sects in their flowers. In the Botanic Garden at Cambridge I have frequently 

 seen small moths hanging by their proboscides to certain foreign Asclepiads. 

 The other day I found our common little red butterfly (Lyccena Americana, Har- 

 ris) entangled in the same way by the flowers Aselepias Cornuti, Decaisne. 



The same day I was attracted to two fine specimens of the Argynnis but- 

 terfly on one of the swamp thistles. I wondered why they were so quiet. Ex- 

 amination revealed a spider of almost the exact colors of the involucral scales. 

 He had already sucked dry one specimen and was at work on the other. 



I have frequently, in New Brunswick, observed gigantic single specimens of 

 Habenaria fimbriata, B. Br. It remained for Bhode Island to show me a group 

 of a dozen or more of these elegant plants together. I found them, a few days 

 since, near Buttonwoods, Warwick, K. I., growing in a deep, woody hollow, near 

 a stream. It was a sight to always remember. — W. Whitman Bailey. 



Sarcodes sangllinea. — The Gardeners' Monthly contains the following on 

 the Snow Plant (Sarcodes sanguinea), by Thomas Meehan, " as the result of many 

 examinations, to be an annual, germinating on small pine roots and subse- 

 quently obtaining subsistence from the earth, as do Aphyllon and Epiphegus." 



I very much doubt the correctness of this statement, and as truth should 

 be the object of all investigation, I give the result of some of my observations, 

 made during a residence of seventeen years in the home of Sarcodes, and invite 

 farther inquiry from those who are interested. 



My attention was first called to the peculiar growth of Sarcodes as early as 

 1865, by a plant brought me by a brother, who was working in a hydraulic 

 mine at the time (he had piped it out). The under-ground stem measured 

 three feet, and a part was broken off. It is a common saying among the miners 

 that " the roots of the ' Snow Plant' have no end." 



During the years 1875 and 1876 my attention was more particularly given 

 to the growth of Sarcodes, to ascertain if it was really a parasitic plant, and 

 from what roots it drew its nourishment. 



The under-ground stem is covered with thick, fleshy leaves (or scales), and 

 in the axil of each leaf is an undeveloped flower bud. The stem, in the smaller 

 plants, extends down only a few inches, while in the larger ones it reaches a 

 depth of three feet or more. The root consists of a coralline mass, which con- 

 tains from one to more than one hundred cubic inches, according to size and 

 age of the plant. The descending axis is attached to this mass by short, brittle 

 roots, about one inch in length. 



I have dug dozens of these plants, and at all seasons of the year. Always 

 found the coralline mass greatest about the time they began to appear above 

 the ground in early spring. It is gradually absorbed in growing, leaving a 

 honey-combed appearance in the soil. When the growth for the season is com- 

 pleted, there only remains about one cubic inch of the mass, and just below and 

 a little to one side of the old under-ground stem, and attached to the mass of 

 root, is a little "snow plant." 



In the spring of 1878, I marked the place of growth of a number of these 

 plants, as I had promised roots of them to Mr. El wees, of England, and friends 



