166 BOTANICAL NEWS. 



sold for tlie low price of 2d., it will doubtless have a very large circulation. — 

 Nature. 



The public rooms of the British Museum will be kept open until 8 o'clock 

 every Saturday and Monday evening during the months of May, June, and 

 July. 



Dr. A. S. Donkin, of Durham, is preparing for publication a history of the 

 British DiatomacecB, with plates of all the species. 



A new edition is announced of Ilenfrey's ' Elementary Course of Botany,' 

 to be edited by Dr. Masters. Professor Bentley has on hand a new edition of 

 his ' Manual of Botany.' We also note the publication of Mrs. Loudon's ' First 

 Book of Botany,' revised by D. Woosten. 



In the April number of the ' Popvdar Science Eeview,' Dr. William Ogle 

 continues his observations on the fertilization of various flowers by insects. In 

 the Compositce he describes the mode in Matricaria Parthenium, in wliich the 

 tufts of hairs at the extremities of the styles are described as pushing out the 

 ripe pollen from the anther-cells on to the corolla, whence it is easily removed 

 on to the stigmas of adjacent florets by insects crawling over the flower-heads. 

 In the Leguminosa, insects settling on the carina or alee cause their depression, 

 and the consequent liberation of the contained stamens and pistil. The pollen 

 adheres to the under surface of the insect, except in Phaseolus, where it is re- 

 ceived on its back. The structure of the stamens in the EricacecB is explained 

 very clearly ; in Erica the apical pore of each anther-cell is closed by being in 

 contact with that of the adjacent anther, and the horizontal processes of the 

 anthers are levers which when pressed upon ruptui'e the coherent chain of an- 

 ther-cells, and liberate the contained pollen. This is done by the proboscis of 

 an insect endeavouring to reach the nectariferous disk, and as the flowers are 

 more or less pendulous, the pollen-grains fall on its head, Vaccinium and 

 Arbutus have very similar arrangements. 



Mr. Charles P. Holkirk has published in tlie Bull, de la Soc. Roy. de Bot. de 

 Belgique, t. viii. pp. 449-458, a short account of the forms of Capsella Bursa- 

 pastoris, founded on the examination of those growing in England, and those 

 contained in the Kew herbarium. He describes 6 subspecies-: 3 founded on 

 Crepin's 3 varieties, genuina, stenocarpa, and bifida, all of which occui" in Eng- 

 land ; and the other 3, which have not been noticed in this country, C. rubella, 

 Eeut., usually considered a species by Continental authors ; C. gracilis, Gren., 

 thought by M. Baroux (see ' Billotia,' 1869, p. 114) to be a hybrid between C. 

 Bursa-pastoris and C. rubella ; and C. hispida, a new subspecies founded on 

 Persian specimens in the Kew herbarium. 



The Rev. J. B. Reade, in the April number of the ' Popular Science Review,' 

 has shown that the various beautiful markings on Diatoms, which have been 

 usually considered by microscopists to be angidar in outline, are caused by 

 hemispherical elevations of the surface. 



A botanical section has been formed in connection with the Hants and Win- 

 chester Scientific and Literary Society ; Mr. Frederick J. Warner, of 3, Clifton 

 Terrace, Winchester, is the Hon. Secretary to the section. Wincliester College, 

 not to be behind our other public schools, has recently established a Natural 



