February V], 1898]^ 



NATURE 



;67 



Captain Hills' corona spectra are excellent, showing a small 

 radial extension of the lines. Captain Hills obtained a series of 

 exposures for the flash at the beginnhig and end of totality, 

 show ing the whole spectroscopic history of the sun's limb, from 

 the solar spectrum through the flash to the prominence. 



Mr. Newall found the coronal spectrum too faint at a quarter 

 diameter from the sun's limb for determination of the velocity 

 in the line of sight, but caught the bright lines in the spectrum on 

 another photograph at the end of totality. Mr. Newall observed 

 very strong polarisation in the corona visually, and also observed 

 the green coronal ring with the objective grating spectroscope. 



Jeur. 



The eclipse party from the Poona College of Science, under 

 Prof. K. D. Naegamvala, had its camp at Jeur, and within two 

 hundred yards of it were the Lick observers, under Prof W. W. 

 ■Campbell. At Jeur were also the Japanese astronomers, under 

 ihe direction of Prof. Taero, with Prof. Hiramaya and two 

 assistants. Two miles further south was Mr. C. Burckhaller, 

 with Major Harkness, Captain Dugon, and others. Every branch 

 of eclipse work was represented at Jeur. 



All the eclipse parties at this station may well be congratu- 

 lated on the successful issue of their arduous labours and careful 

 preparation. Thirty good photographs of spectra, fifteen of 

 which are excellent, were secured by Prof. Naegamvala, and 

 about the same number by Prof. Campbell. In the case of the 

 Poona eclipse party these preparations were rendered particularly 

 arduous by the very late arrival of some of the principal instru- 

 ments sent out from England ; Prof. Naegamvala's Cooke 6-inch 

 spectroscope having only arrived on January ii. Upon this 

 instrument two prisms of 45° were mounted, and the length of 

 spectrum given by them was twelve inches. The " flash" spec- 

 trum was caught on three plates, and on one spectrum the length 

 from D3 to H is eight inches. The Maharajah of Kohlapore, 

 who had liberally supported Prof Naegamvala with funds for the 

 eclipse instruments, specially deputed Prof. Apte to join the Poona 

 party Prof. Apte secured some very interesting observations on 

 the visibility of planets during the course of the phenomenon, 

 and they 'will be of value in determining the^ intensity of the 

 corona light. 



In addition to the information given in the foregoing extracts, 

 we learn that at the British Astronomical Association's camp at 

 Talni good photographs of the corona were obtained, and Mr. 

 Evershed succeeded in photographing the "flash" spectrum, 

 and in carrying out the whole of his extensive spectroscopic 

 programme. At Gogra, north of Nagpur, Dr. Copeland 

 obtained photographs of the corona with his telescope of 40 feet 

 focal length. Particulars of the instruments employed at the 

 various stations have already been given in Nature. 



PITCHER-PLANTS.^ 



A MONG recent additions to the attractions of Kew 

 -^*- Gardens is a house largely devoted to pitcher-plants ; 

 and the past year has seen several important additions to 

 our knowledge of this very interesting class of plants. 



Pitcher-plants, as enumerated by Prof Vines, are found 

 in ten genera, distributed through five widely separated 

 natural orders, viz. (j) Sarraceniaceic {Sarracenia, Darl- 

 ingtotiia, Heliamphora) ; (2) Nepenthaceae {Nepenthes) ; 

 (3) Asclepiadaceae {Dischidia) ; (4) Saxifragaceae {Cepha- 

 .lotus) ; (5) Lentibulariaceae {Utricularia, Genlisea, Poly- 

 pomp/iolyx, JBiovularia). Of these the only natives of 

 this country are .the "Bladder-worts" {Uiriculart'a), of 

 which several species are not uncommon in running and 

 standing water. But the genus with which the name is 

 usually associated is Nepen/Jies, the only representative 

 of the order, to which about thirty-two species are assigned 

 by Bentham and Hooker, natives of the East Indian 

 Archipelago, or scattered through Asia, Africa, Mada- 

 gascar, and Australia ; ^ but the number of known species 



1 S. H. Vines, " The Physiology of Pitcher-Plants." ("Reprint from 



Joum. Roy. Hort. Soc. .vol. xjti. , 22 pp.) 



S. H. Vines, " The Proteolytic Enzyme oi'^e'^'c\\\ift&." (AnnaU of Botany , 



December 1897, pp. 363-584.) 



H. J. Veitch, " Nepenthes." {/ontyt. Roy. Hort. Soc. 1897, pp. 226-255.) 



F. W. Burbidge, Remarks on the above. {Tom. cit. pp. 256-262.) 



F. M. Bailey, " Contributions to the Flora of Queensland," vol. i. part i, 



July 1897. 

 •^ Mr. Bailey describes and .figures two new species from Queensland. 



NO. 1477. VOL. 57] 



is now considerably larger. Aljout forty species or 

 hybrids are now under cultivation at Kew. Mr. H. J. 

 Veitch — whose firm has done so much for the introduc- 

 tion of these plants into cultivation — in his admirable 

 account of the genus in the Journal of the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society, gives twenty-four as the actual number 

 of true species in cultivation, in addition to a large 

 number of varieties, and primary, secondary, or tertiary 

 hybrids. 



Nepenthes is not grown for the sake of its blossom. 

 The flowers, borne in terminal inflorescences, are small, 

 and of simple type, the perianth consisting of four usually 

 green segments. They are unisexual and dioecious. I 

 find no reference to any insect-visitors to the flowers ; 

 and they are probably anemophilous. The interest of 

 these plants centres in the remarkable terminal ap- 

 pendages to the leaves in all the known species, the 

 ascidia or pitchers, which are constructed on a uniform 

 general type, though varying greatly in size, form, and 

 colour. To proinote the formation of these pitchers, 

 cultivators usually " stop " the blossoming, so that special 

 cultivation is needed for the production of hybrids. The 

 pitcher itself is generally regarded as an expansion of the 

 petiole or leaf-stalk ; Sir Joseph Hooker describes it as a 



Fig. I. — Nepenthes Sedenii, one-sixth natural size. 



" modification of a gland situated at the apex of the mid- 

 rib of the leaf." The lid is always completely closed 

 until maturity, and the fluid is excreted within the 

 enclosed chamber. 



The composition and properties of this fluid have been 

 the subject of many investigations. Notwithstanding 

 that one or two recent inquirers have come to a contrary 

 conclusion, the observations and experiments of Prof. 

 Vines may be said to have finally settled the point that it 

 contains a true digestive principle. The teleological bias 

 of the eighteenth century connected these pitchers of 

 water with the needs of thirsty travellers or of birds. 

 Linnaeus describes the pitchers as "aquam dulcem 

 limpidam, amabilem, confortantem, frigidam suppedi- 

 tantia, ad necessarium hominis usum," and goes into 

 raptures when adopting the name Nepenthes proposed by 

 Breyne : — "Cum enim et haec non Helenae Nepenthes, 

 certe Botanicis omnibus erit. Quis Botanicorum longis- 

 simo itinere profectus, si mirabilem hanc plantam re- 

 periret, non admiratione raperetur, totus attonitus, prae- 

 teritorum malorum oblitus, mirificam Creatoris manum 

 dum obstupescens adspiciret ?" There are unfortunately 

 two valid arguments against Linnasus's theory : — In the 



