Miscellaneous. ^"^ 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



6PADIX PURPUREA, GOSSE. 



To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History. 



Falmouth, September 30, 1853. 

 Gentlemen, —The Spadix purpurea, Gosse {Arum Cocksii, 

 Vigurrr re Report of th^ Royaf PoVchnic Society 1849 xs an 

 old friend of mine, having found it in the antumn of 1844, attached 

 to the under surface of a large stone, extreme low water mark, spring 

 tide, Gwyllvn-vase, in the neighbourhood. Smce that period a great 

 number of specimens have been sent to some of the first-class natu- 

 ralL^ts of the age, in this country, on the continent, and m Amenta 

 hut hitherto it has proved an enigma not easily solved In the year 

 1847 Mr J. Alder sent several from Falmouth to the Members of 

 the Natural-History Section, British Association, and specimens alive 

 were forwarded, per post, to Sir G. Dalyell, but unfortunately death 

 terminated the career of this good and great man before he had time 

 to untie the Gordian knot. I am glad that another habitat has been 

 found for this interesting creature. I have repeatedly produced the 

 young from the ova; they are free for several days, and perambulate 

 on their stilt-like legs with ease and agility. 



I am. Gentlemen, your obedient servant, 



W. P. CoCK3. 



Note on the Parasitism of Comandra umbellata, Nutt. 

 By Asa Gray. 

 So long ago as the year 1847, Mr. William Mitten an EngUsh 

 botanist, communicated to Hooker's London J^^^^^ °^, f "f^^ 

 ^-vol vi D 146. pi. 4) a brief article, on the oeconomy of the roots 

 if Thesium linophylhm ; in which he shows that the roots of this 

 plant are parasitic ; the ramifications of the root forming attachments, 

 by means^f suckers, with the roots of adjacent plants of various 

 species. The same parasitism probably occurs in other species of 

 Thesium, if not in the genus generally. But I am not aware that 

 the fact has been confirmed on the contmental «P^"f ' ^^j^^^^^^^^ 

 somewhat numerous, although attention has been called to the sub- 

 jecTby the reprint of Mr. Mitten's article in the ' Annales des Sciences 

 Naturelles' in the volume which bears the nominal date of 1847), 

 and an interesting extension was at once given to the discovery by 

 M. Decaisne, who detected a similar parasitic attachment of the 

 rootlets oiMelampyrum, Pedicularis, and other rhmanthaceous plants 

 lone known to be uncultivable. • . xi. i *„j 



In the Botanical Text-book, I had called attention to the related 

 genus Comandra, which replaces Thesium in this country, as likely 

 to exhibit the same parasitic ceconomy, but, pressed by other occupa- 

 tions, had neglected to make the exammation myself ; nor had 1 any 

 notice of thi observation having been made by ^^^^ers although 

 Comandra umbellata is everywhere a common plant m the Umted 

 States. 



