SHORT NOTES. 75 



as including starch in the analysis of the Wheat pericarp ; while there 

 were but 3 per cent, of these materials in the embryos. The oil or 

 fat, which includes cholestorin and matters soluble in ether, was three 

 times as abundant in the embryo as in the pericarp, the former con- 

 taining moreover three and a half times as much albuminoid matter as 

 the latter. A disproportion in the same direction exists likewise in 

 the ash of the two structures, even when its quantity and not its com- 

 position is considered. But fortunately I was able to obtain satis- 

 factory determinations of the phosphorus pentoxide present in the ash 

 both of the pericarp and of the embryo. The ash of the pericarp con- 

 tained but 15*3 per cent, of PgOs, the ash of the embryo no less than 

 60'58, or four times as much. This concentration of valuable nutrient 

 materials in the embryo of Wheat, though it might have been antici- 

 pated, has not, I believe, been previously demonstrated. 



SHORT NOTES. 



FiLAGo GALLiCA, L. — This is, I think, something more than a mere 

 casual in Herts. It is still to be found in at least one locality, a 

 gravelly field to the west of Hertford, where it was first noticed by 

 Messrs. Ansell and Williams some thirty years back ; and although, as 

 was the case last season, it is liable to be hoed up when growing 

 amongst the crop, it is able to maintain itself along the adjoining cart- 

 track, where it occurs in some quantity, in company with F. minima. 

 The three other species of Filago are all to be met with in the same 

 neighbourhood. — R. A. Petoe. 



On Ieis speculatbix. — The diagnosis* of this pretty species was 

 drawn up from dried spec imens communicated by Mr. Charles Ford, 

 which, though nicely prepared, had the flowers quite bleached and 

 rendered uniform in colour by desiccation, and their structure somewhat 

 disguised by the pressure to which they had been subjected. Mr. 

 Ford has since kindly sent me a fine pot of living plants, which 

 bloomed with me for several successive days ; and an examination of 

 these enables me to make the following additions and corrections to 

 the original character: — Perigonii tubo 2 lin. longo foliolis subsequa- 

 libus obovatis apice emarginatis exterioribus a triente superiore deflexis 

 extus viriduHs intus per dimidiam longitudinem albo violaceoque 

 pictis ad duas tcrtias usque longitudinis cristo simplici ruguloso luteo 

 purpureo-punctato notatis medio macula albida anulo saturate 

 purpureo circumdata ocellatis superne la^te purpureis interioribus 

 erectis lilacinis, ovario trigone oblongo, stylis lilacinis lobis erectis 

 perigonii segmentis tertio brevioribus cristis semiovatis acutis extus 

 erosulis, antheris lilacinis lamellula stigmatica parum brevioribus. — 

 H. F. Hancb. 



Trimen, Journ. Bot. n.s. iv., 196. 



