374 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and conduplicate embryos. The student in charge of " Abnormal 

 Forms in Plants " was able to report a number of monstrosities. 

 All members of the class were expected to contribute, if possible, 

 to this paper upon teratology. A toad-flax {hinaria vulgaris) 

 flower with five spurs instead of one was found ; two blossoms of 

 an onosmodium were united into one ; a spike of foxtail {Setaria 

 viridis) was divided into seven prongs, and perhaps the most 

 interesting was the finding of many pistils of prairie pink {Phlox 

 pilosa) in which there were four cavities instead of three, the 

 normal number. The ovaries for the whole order Polemoniacece, 

 to which the phlox belongs, are tricarpellary, and therefore this 

 is a variation which affects the ordinal description. Under the 

 "Dehiscence of Fruits" the pods and capsules of various plants 

 were studied, including those of impatiens, milkweed, violet, and 

 poppy. Observations were made upon the " sensitive stigmas " of 

 the trumpet creeper {Tecoma radicans), which were found to close 

 in one minute when most active — that is, with freshly opened 

 flowers on a bright, hot day. The " Insects Injurious to Plants " 

 furnished abundance of material for an extended paper, and the 

 investigation of the "Root-System of Corn" enabled a student 

 agriculturally inclined to become familiar, by spade and shovel, 

 with the manner in which the roots of our leading crop are spread 

 in the soil. A contrast between " Grape and Cucumber Tendrils " 

 and a study of " How the Virginia Creeper Creeps " were two sub- 

 jects which, when specially investigated, enabled the students to 

 become familiar with a number of questions which are not easily 

 answered by a study of books. The " Stipules of Various Plants," 

 when contrasted by making drawings of the living specimens, 

 made a paper of interest to all. The clovers and docks were 

 investigated in particular. The leaf -type of the great rag- weed 

 {Ambrosia trifida) was worked out after an examination of two 

 thousand leaves. An opportunity for some thorough microscopic 

 work was offered in the " Pollen of Ten Kinds of Flowers," and it 

 brought out the difference existing in pollen of the same species 

 as well as contrasts between the fertilizing dust of widely sepa- 

 rated orders. "Thickness of Leaves" and the "Polarity in the 

 Compass-Plant" were two topics varying widely in their treat- 

 ment, one being a general and the other a special topic upon foli- 

 age. The " Time required for the Ripening of Seed " was deter- 

 mined in an experimental way. Blossoms of various plants were 

 marked with twine and watched until seeds from them matured. 

 Common purslane required ten days ; the cultivated species of the 

 same genus, {Portulacca grandiflora) needed fifteen days, while 

 three times as long was insufficient time for maturing the seeds of 

 Euphorbia hypericmfolia. " The Number of Seeds upon Three 

 Kinds of Weeds " was determined as follows : common dock, 7,556 ; 



