A NEW VARIETY OF STACHYS SYLVATICA. L. Ill 



wise be an entirely white surface. The whole plant is light in colour, 

 and the longitudinal purple stripes in the neighbourhood of the four 

 ribs of the stein are not so strongly developed as in the type. This 

 character also shows clearly in the reputed hybrids, whose flowers are 

 lighter in colour than those of either parent, but have the usual 

 markings on the lower lip. 



If the specimens prove as fertile as the parent species, it should be 

 a good plant on which to test experimentally the practical efficiency 

 of lines as honey-guides. The inheritance of the mottling might also 

 be a matter of interest. The preliminary technical difficulty of 

 removing the anthers before self-pollination had been effected could 

 probably be quite easily overcome. 



1 have been able to trace only one variety of S. sylvatica. This 

 is described in Rouy's Flore de France as : " [3 subsericeus Grogn. 

 Oat. Saone-et-loire? p. ISO. Plante plus velue, subsoj'euse ; feuilles 

 plus petites, presque rugueuses." It is obvious that this is not the 

 plant I have described above. In Townsend's Flora of Hampshire 

 a var. viridijiora MSS. is mentioned, and is regarded as an undoubted 

 abnoi'mality : it is stated that Dr. Trimen found the plant at Stokes 

 Bay, Grosport, in 1872. This seems to be a teratological and virescent 

 form that has been found and described many times, as can be seen 

 by referring to Penzig's Pflanzen-teratologie. Christ (in Flora 

 1867) gives a very good description of this form, and clear and 

 characteristic figures. I have found similar virescent forms in the 

 autumns of 1919 and 1920 at Downley, near High Wycombe, in 

 Buckinghamshire, and Mr. Britten informs me that he found similar 

 plants near my locality about 1867. These did not set seed, as even 

 the ovules were affected ; and probably were onty reproduced vege- 

 tatively. There is no question of this plant being the same as the 

 one I have here recorded ; the latter showed no signs of virescence, no 

 abnormality and seeded freely. Mr. Britten has kindly drawn my 

 attention to a continental specimen in the British Museum, with a 

 long MS. description by Gray. I have examined this specimen and 

 the description, and I do not think that there is any similarity. 



I append a short diagnosis : — var. immacutata : labro inferiore 

 corollas immacutato, subpruinoso ; albo, subrubente. Tota planta 

 minus solito viridis, nee adeo in caulibus purpurata. 



SHORT NOTES. 



Pollination in Escallonia maceantha. In my garden near 

 Cork there is a fine specimen of Fscallonia macrantlia: during the 

 past summer it flowered freely, producing cymes with a copious supply 

 of blossoms. I noticed that numerous humble and honey beos visited 

 the flowers in succession ; I watched their actions carefully and noted 

 that the insects alighted on the corolla, the first pair of legs grasping 

 the margins of the upper petals, the body resting opposite the anthers 

 and stigma: when the legs were moved the pollen was disturbed and 

 appeared to adhere chiefly to the two hinder pairs of legs and abdominal 

 hairs. The insect moved towards the calyx and inserted its tongue 



