102 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [March 



by small birds belonging to the family of TrochiUdoe, or humming- 

 birds ; Rosa^ Poeonia, and Magnolia^ qrandiflora, by beetles of 

 the chafer tribe ; others again by small slugs. If in any particular 

 locality the animal necessary for the fertilisation of a particular 

 plant is absent, it is certain that the plant cannot spread ; and 

 thus the conditions for the diffusion of plants are dependent on the 

 geographical distribution of animals. A remarkable illustration 

 is furnished by two plants belonging to the same genus, grown in 

 the botanic gardens in Italy, Lobelia syphilitica and L.fidgens; 

 the flowers of the former are abundantly visited by Bomhris ter- 

 restris and italicus, and freely produce seeds ; the latter, not- 

 withstanding its beauty and its great store of honey, is never 

 visited by insects in the neighbourhood of Florence, and never 

 bears seeds spontaneously, but can be readily fertilized by artifi- 

 cial impregnation. Prof. Delpiuo conjectures that it is naturally 

 fertilised by humming-birds. He believes that the scarlet colour 

 of the corolla, so common in the tropics, but comparatively rare 

 with us, is especially attractive to small birds, but offensive rather 

 than otherwise to Hymenoptera. As a rule, scarlet flowers are 

 large, bag-like in form, horizontal in position, and with the nectar 

 completely separated, which would of itself perfectly prevent their 

 fertilisation by insects. The largest European flowers, such as 

 the paeony and^arge bird-weed {Convolvulus sepium) are fertilised 

 by sphinxes and rose-chafers. — Botanishe Zeitung. 



National Museum of Bohemia, Nov. 24, 1869.— M. T. 

 Palacky explained his views of the botanical geography of Asia. 

 M. Grisebach has recently divided Asia into four botanical 

 provinces : (1) Western, or that of the Steppes ; (2) Eastern, 

 or Chinese ; (3) Boreal, or Siberian ; and (4j Southern, or that 

 of India. M. Palachy admits only two provinces — the one 

 Southern, the other Boreal— including in the latter the whole of 

 Asia beyond the Himalayas, because the first three provinces of 

 M. Grisebach do not appear to him to differ more from one 

 another in regard to their flora than the sub -provinces of each 

 do. The author lays special stress upon the tropical species 

 inhabiting China — where they are not arrested by the steppes — 

 as far north as Pekin, and even as the Amoor. According to M. 

 Palachy, the existing flora of Central Asia is an invasion of the 

 Mediterranean flora which took place after the elevation of the 

 Turcoman plateau in place of the ancient post-tertiary sea 



