SHORT NOTES AND QUERIES. 373 



two sheets, but the principle of all these modifications is identical. The 

 air and rain are excluded, and cannot give rise to the discoloration of the 

 label. — A. H. Chukch. 



Fruit of Vinca (pp. 14, 336). — I have before me ripe fruit of Vinca 

 major, from the garden of Mr. J. Pristo, of Alverstone, Whippingham, 

 Isle of Wight. I have also, I believe, seen ripe fruit of Vinca viimr 

 from copses in the Isle of Wight in Dr. Bromfield's herbarium. — F. 

 Stratton. 



DlGITARIA SANGUINALI3 NEAR PLYMOUTH. The ReV. H, N. Ella- 



combe sends a specimen of Bujitaria savgnmalis, the true plant, 

 gathered in waste ground in the neighbourhood of Plymouth. — J. G. 

 Baker. 



SiLENE KOCTiFLORA, L. — I found this plant, in September last, 

 growing sparingly in an arable field adjoining the river Dee, close to 

 the railway viaduct half a mile south of Cefn, in Denbighshire. It is, I 

 believe, new to the county and to the province of North Wales. — F. 

 Stratton. 



Anthyllis DiLLENii, ScJuiUz. — Has this plant been found of late in 

 a bog near Aberfraw, Anglesea ? A specimen of it is in the herbarium of 

 the Koyal Institution, Liverpool, dated July, 1853, and collected by the 

 late John Shillitoe. — J. Haubord Lewis. [A very unlikely plant to 

 grow anywhere in a hog. — J. G. B.] 



Note on the Fertilization of Cereals. — I am not aware of 

 any observatioris on the fertilization of cereals. This year I turned my 

 attention to the subject, from being at work on the Grasses for the third 

 edition of 'English Botany;' and as my residence is in the midst of corn- 

 fields, I had ample op[)ortunities of investigating the subject. In Wheat 

 and Barley the stignuis receive tiie pollen from the anthers before the 

 latter are protruded, and the exsertcd anthers 1 found to be always empty. 

 In the Oat most of the protruded anthers are empty, but occasionally 

 finthers with pollen are to be found after protrusion, and sti<>nuis exposed 

 at the sides of the florets, which 1 have not been able to tind in AVheat 

 and Barley. All the British forms of the Jgropyrum section of Triticum, 

 and Ilordenm murirnim, maritbiium, and bulLosKin. protrude their stigmas 

 and unemptied anthers in the manner usual among the EiwyaulhefP. 

 My observations are contined to the county of Fife, and the case of tlje 

 Oat seems to show that the mode of fertilization is not always constant 

 in the same species, so that observuiions are required in other places. 

 The question is more important than it aj)])ears at first sight. 1 have 

 noticed letters in the newspapers from farmers, predicting a bad wheat 

 harvest because the " wind had blown ofl' the flowers." Noav, if the 

 anthers may be blown oU' without aflecting the fertilization no harm is 



