936 



their flowering, but do not know whether it has been previously no- 

 ticed or not. After the flower opens, and before the pollen is ripe, the 

 position of the flower changes from pendant or drooping to nearly up- 

 right, or so much so as to permit the sun's rays to penetrate to the 

 bottom of the flower : when the pollen is ripe and ready to be scat- 

 tered, the flower then resumes its original position. Whether this is 

 efliected by the twisting of the peduncle, or by reversing the natural 

 curve, I did not observe. The upper part of the peduncle during that 

 period always presented a sigmoid flexure. With regard to the prin- 

 cipal object of my attention, the spreading or closing of the calyx- 

 segments, I think they ought to be observed more than they have hi- 

 therto been, as I suspect the spreading of their segments may be of 

 use in determining nearly-allied species, as I have observed a con- 

 slant difierence in the whole contour of the flower accompanying the 

 different position of the sepals. — Id. 



464. Note on the Equiseta. I am very much pleased to find that 

 Mr. Newman has paid attention to the different appearances of the 

 section of the different species ; as I have always suspected that if 

 fully pursued through all our species, they would very much assist in 

 their discrimination. The descriptions would have been more pei'fect 

 had it been stated how the tubular passages increase in number from 

 the root upwards. In E. Telmateia particularly they increase from 

 about six or eight in the lowest internodes, regularly with every joint, 

 they become too numerous and too minute to be counted with the un- 

 assisted eye. As they increase in number they decrease in size, while 

 the stem does not decrease. — Id. 



465. Note on the effects of the late mild winter. On Christmas- 

 eve and Christmas-day I heard both the thrush and robin singing — 

 one proof out of the many afforded of the unusual mildness of the sea- 

 son, which continued indeed until the end of January; since then we 

 have had a long visit from the three winter graces — frost, snow and 

 ice. In the Christmas week I saw a Fuchsia in full blossom in a gar- 

 den eighteen miles North-east of York : it was unprotected from the 

 weather, but was on the south side of the house. In my own garden, 

 twelve miles North-east of York, I had strawberries in blossom, but 

 for want, I suppose, of the warmer rays of the sun they were of a din- 

 gy yellow colour, instead of white. In a garden at York I saw a lilac- 

 tree fast bursting into leaf; and in all parts of the country the same 

 mild season seems to have prevailed to a degree unexampled in the 

 memory of that exceedingly long-lived person — "the oldest inhabi- 

 tant." — F. Orpen Morris ; February 15, 1844. 



