66Q 



vals until nearly all the seeds had left the capsule. By that time 

 the dropsy had got the mastery of the stalk that supported the pod 

 and down it fell. The force with which they were propelled, sent 

 many of them a distance of two feet, and each discharge was accom- 

 panied by a smart cracking sound. 



This mode of fructification I have found has not been confined to 

 my Ward's case, for a plant that had been put into a pot and kept in 

 the open air, where it vegetated but indifferently in consequence of 

 smuts and dust, also fructified in the same way without a blossom. 1 

 have also at this time a plant of the dog violet ( Viola canina) that is 

 passing through similar changes, which you shall have for inspection, 

 as the inferences to be drawn from the circumstance will be bet- 

 ter from your pen than mine. 



H. Deane. 

 Clapham, September 18th, 1846. 



P. S. I should have mentioned that the case is placed under a 

 wall nearly due north, and surrounded with buildings, so that it rarely 

 happens to get a ray of sunshine. 



Notice of the ' Annals and Magazine of Natural History^ Nos. 117 

 and 118, dated August and September, 1846. 



(Continued from page 588). 



No. 117. Contents: "Notices of British Hypogseous Fungi," by 

 the Rev. M. J. Berkeley and C. E. Broome, Esq. " On the regular 

 arrangement of Crystals in certain organs of Plants," by Edwin J. 

 Quekett. "Excursion in Upper Styria, in 1842," by Dr. R. C. 

 Alexander. " Remarks on some points in the Structure of Cucurbita- 

 cese," by Dr. J. E. Stocks. "Miscellaneous." Barneoud "On the 

 Organogeny of irregular Corollas." M. Bouchardat, "Do Plants 

 placed in a solution containing several substances, absorb certain 

 substances in preference to others ?" M. Unger " On the Nectarife- 

 rous Glands of Leaves, and on some Saccharine Secretions." "' Obitu- 

 ary, Mr. Thomas Edmondston." 



Several species of Fungi, new to science, or new to Britain, are de- 

 scribed in the paper of Messrs. Berkeley and Broome. The regular 

 arrangement of crystals is detected by Mr. Quekett in the testa of the 

 seeds of Ulmus campestris, and in the sepals of Geraniacea and Mai- 



