22 



stance to have altogether supplanted the normal method charac- 

 teristic of the genus. In general structure the West Medford 

 *' bulblets " are substantially the same as those from Chautauqua. 



The stipes are shorter, however, barely a line in length : the up- 



per bract of the antero-posterior pair is smaller, triangular lanceo- 

 late and taper-pointed, (instead of *' oblong and obtuse ") : the 

 two main scales of the ''bulblet'* tend to diverge towards the 

 extremity, thus producing a V-shaped opening between them 

 (instead of a mere tiny ** notch ''). The accompanying diagrams 

 are based on the specimens from Western New York. To rep- 

 resent the West Medford '* bulblet " exactly, the uppermost bract 

 in a should be narrower, and the interval between the two lower 



■ 



scales in c should be srreater. 



a b 



c 



Diagrams of Lycopodium lucidnhim, x 6. Bracts at the summit of the stipe 

 {a), and *' bulblet" near the base {h) and towards the apex (<:). 



Dianthus Armeria, L., flowers ordinarily in July and August 

 Some eight or ten blossoms which I collected last October, on 

 the Harlem bank of New York Island, were, therefore, greatly 

 belated. The first one I found was of a darker purple than 

 usual, and the white dots in the centre of the flower were wholly 

 wanting. This peculiarity was so marked as to attract my atten- 

 tion at the first glance, and I made a diligent search for other 

 specimens with the special object of seeing whether or not it 

 would be repeated. Four or five different plants, averaging two 

 flowers each, were found at different points, and in every instance 

 the white dots had disappeared and the petals were of a decid- 

 edly intensified purple. This interesting chromatic variation ap- 

 pears to be due to the lower temperature of October as com- 

 pared with that of August, inasmuch as the numerous flowers 

 collected at the same station during midsummer were all strictly 

 normal in coloration. E. E. STERNS. 



v-^alls. E. E. S,, in t;he last BULLETIN, suggests that 

 gall-bearin^by willowsmay possibly represent '' a result of insect 

 action become hereditary," and this most unreasonable conjecture 

 is put forth on the slight negative evidence that ''the writer had 



Willo 



