34 



To return to the ' Gazette,' the titles of the papers to which I have 

 alluded are as under. 



On the Cerastium pumilum of Curtis. By Charles C. Babington, 

 M.A. 



On a curious Form of Corolla in Lamiura album. By J. Buckman, 

 F.G.S., F.L.S., &c., Professor of Geology and Botany, R.A.C. 



Mr. Babington observes that the authors of the new edition of the 

 'British Flora' place Cinlis's Cerastium pumilum as a j)robable 

 variety of triviale, with which indeed Mr. Babington considers it has 

 much in common. Its habit, its rather long petals, about equal to the 

 calyx, and the tendency of its capsules to curve upwards, are so many 

 similarities to the species in question. " In C. triviale the fruit-stalks 

 are not reflexed from their base, as is the case in C. pumilum, but are 

 erect or ascending, the capsules being patent by the curvature of the 

 top of their stalks. The leaves of C. triviale are much longer, the pu- 

 bescence is not glutinous, and the seeds are considerably larger." Mr. 

 Babington thinks Curtis's pumilum may be identical with glutinosum, 

 Frief<, which = obscurura, Chaiih., and also that, should this view be 

 correct, the oldest name, pumilum, is inappropriate, since French and 

 Swedish plants are often large. Mr. Babington, in conclusion, wishes 

 botanists during the approaching spring to examine attentively the 

 smaller Cerastia, especially in the neighbourhod of Croydon, where 

 Dickson found his plant, I beg to join in this wish, for I cannot 

 help considering our knowledge of the Cerastia as extremely imper- 

 fect. T hope the results will be published in the ' Phytologist.' 



Mr. Buckman states that having examined some plants of Lamium 

 album with more showy inflorescence than usual, he found that this 

 peculiarity was due to a deviation from normal form in the corolla. 

 In the place of the "little reflexed teeth," described by Sir J. E. 

 Smith as occupying the sides of the throat, were large lateral lobes. 

 This aberration has been observed during three successive seasons. 



Mr. Henfrey under the next head, " Literature," notices the pub- 

 lication of a third edition of Schleiden's ' Principles of Scientific 

 Botany,' in which the chief additions relate to Suminski's work on 

 the reproduction of ferns, to the conflicting views respecting impreg- 

 nation, and to the general physiology of nutrition. The author 

 expresses himself satisfied that no such phenomena as those described 

 by Suminski are to be observed, and therefore that no such act of 

 impregnation takes place : he also maintains his own views respecting 

 the import of the pollen-tube, in phajnogamous plants, in the fertili- 

 zation of ovules. Also of a sixth fasciculus of Pritzel's ' Thesaurus 



