88 



Tin- c.iKnr.M- Rs Miyxiinv 



yMarch, 



'• I'loti'SMir M(trLj:iii — 'I'licv (•(uiic tVdiii the Mir- 

 r(Hiii(liiiL^ (issii«>, uiuloiihffdly. Tlicv arc incrt-ly 

 :i scciTlion of (lie plaiil, altoucthcr analogous fo 

 (he milk of (he Jiiilk-wi'cd and that class ol 

 ])laiils. 



" A lady nionibcr desired sonic liLrht \\\n)\\ fliat 

 class of jilants termed the caiiiivcroiis. and 

 allndcd to in the essay, to uliicli the Profi-ssor 

 replied Ity sayinir that the <;reat Linnsens rejected 

 the idea that there were any such plants hi ex- 

 istence. ]{nt tlic fjreat naturalist was mistaken. 

 Such plants do (^xist, and it has heen clearly 

 demonstrated that they feed upon and diijest the 

 soft parts of insects cauj^ht hy them. The diges- 

 tion is perf(>rmed hy a sort of gastric juice 

 secreted hy the ])laiit. They are found about 

 the bofjs of the ('arolinas and nowhere cl.-c in 

 the world. 



•'It was .suggested to the Chair thai if tlic 

 strawberry is not a fruit, as affirmed in the essay, 

 that 'Othello's occupation is gone'— that he 

 (Mr. O.) is no longer a fruit-grower, but a grower 

 of something else, and the chief point of interest 

 is, what sort of a nondescript did he grow. 



"Professor Morgan exnlained very intelligently 

 and satisfactorily to all pre.seut, the difference 

 between a true fiuit and the strawberry, which 

 is no nioie a fruit than the tip of an asparairus 

 plant or celery stalk." 



There is probably some misapprehenson of 

 Profes.sor Morgan's position. The fleshy por- 

 tion of the "fruit" which we so relish in the 

 strawberry is, of course, but the receptacle; but 

 even in a technical sense it would hardly do to 

 say that the receptacle was not part of the fruit, 

 certainly much more so than the "ti]) of an 

 a.sparagus." 



M.VLFOUMKD Ai'tlp: JiLossOMs. — A corres- 

 pondent of the Valley Naturalist says: "We 

 have recently received some monstrous apple- 

 flowers collected by Prof. Keigh, of Xew York. 

 There may be seen on turning down the five 

 minute, pointed, sepal-like organs, into which 

 the petals are transformed, the fifteen pistils en- 

 closed. The outer ten extra pistils form a ten- 

 celled, superior core, and the five regular pistils, 

 ■within, extend down through them to the regu- 

 lar five-celled ovary below. The number of 

 petals is occasionally but four, and the pistils 

 vary from twelve to fifteen. We see no other 

 way of accounting for the ten extra pistils, 

 except to consider them as transformed from 

 the twenty missing stamens; this is however; 

 contrary to analogy, as transformations of this 



sort rarcl\ ever occur in othei- jilants. The 

 original tree is (piilc old, and is unforlnnately in 

 a dying coiuliiion. (Jrafts have, however, been 

 inatle, so that this peculiar monstrosity will not 

 : be lost to science by the death of the original 

 free. It has been suggested that the fruit may 

 also have an economic value, as. in an orchard 

 away from other apple trees, bloitming at the 

 same time, the large, early fall cooking apples 

 wtiiilil proliably be (juite seedless." 

 -IiMiMNC Be.vns <)>- Mkxko. — From the so- 

 called •jumping beans" of Mexico whose mo- 

 tions are caused by an insect within, Mr. 

 Ileiuy ICdwards has succeeded in obtaining a 

 beautiful moth of the Tortricidnc family and 

 ' proiiahly a new species. The case is curious, gs 

 an instance of one of thr lepidoptera ])iercing a 

 seed capsule with its ovipositor, and laying an 

 egg to produce a larva which will destroy the 

 seed. This sort of performance is mostly con- 

 lined to coleopterous insects. The account of 

 j this new moth was given before the San Fran- 

 ' Cisco Microscopical Society. 



Light for Tkopical Pi>ants; — Professor 

 Secley thinks the idea that tropical plants need 

 a large amount of light is a mistake. We are 

 inclined to agree with him. We doubt much 

 ; whether the actual amount of light in a tropical 

 i country is any greater than the jear's average in 

 I a temperate one. We have been sur])i'ised to 

 i find the Banana and man}- tropical plants make 

 green, healthy growth in warm rooms, where the 

 j light was comparatively limited. 

 I The Potato Beetle in Europe. — Some of 

 the European entomologists are amusing them- 

 [ selves with pelting Prof. Pilev, because he cau- 

 tioned them to look sharp after the potato beetle. 

 This is what Dr. Candeze, of Liege, says at the 

 Entomological Congress in Brussels, in October 

 ' last. Speaking of Prof. Riley's paper, he says : 

 "There is apparently no doubt there was an 

 increase in the price of jiotatoes at St. Louis 

 during 1873; but the author himself, in his pam- 

 phlet, attributes it as much to suppression of 

 culture as to the ravages of Doryphora — many 

 farmers, he sa5^s, not daring to plant potatoes. 

 Let us hope that St. Louis is the town in which 

 Mr. Riley resides and publishes his articles. 



" Certainly the Minister for the Interior would 

 be very much surprised if the publications of his 

 department, by frightening the farmers without 

 reason, produced the same result here next 

 season. 



" Another fliult we find with this pamphlet is 



