Notes and Gleanings. t6q 



Mr. Nathaniel B. Ward, F.R.S., of the Ferns, Clapham Rise, died on the 

 4th ult., at St. Leonard's-on-Sea, in his seventy-seventh year. Mr. Ward will be 

 best known to our readers as the inventor of the Wardian Case, an invention w hich 

 was thus brought about : In the summer of 1829, he had placed the chrysalis 

 of a moth in some mould in a glass bottle covered with a lid, in order to obtain 

 a perfect specimen of the insect. After a time, a .'^peck or two of vegetation ap- 

 peared on the surface of the mould, and turned out to be a fern and a grass. 

 The bottle was placed in a favorable situation, and the plants continued to grow 

 and maintain a healthy appearance. On reflecting upon the matter, he found 

 that, in the bottle, the conditions necessary to the life of the plants, as air, light, 

 moisture, were maintained, and the deleterious influences, to a great extent, ex- 

 cluded. This case gave birih to others. The plan was tested ; and after a few 

 years Mr. Ward had the satisfaction of knowing, that, through his invention, he 

 had been the means of introducing Nature into the crowded city, and of facili- 

 tating the transport of valuable plants to and from different parts of the world. 

 Through the greater part of his life, Mr. Ward was associated with the Apothe- 

 caries' Society of London : first in connection with its garden at Chelsea ; then 

 as examiner for the prizes in botany ; then as master, when he endeavored to 

 bring the scientific element of the society into prominence by giving two micro- 

 scropical soirees, which have not since, there or elsewhere, been surpassed ; and 

 ultimately as treasurer. In the memory of those that knew him, Mr. Ward 

 will live as a type of a genial, upright, and most amiable man, an accomplished 

 practitioner, and a:i enthusiastic lover of Nature in all its aspects. 



Hybridizatiox in Plants. — The subject of hybridization in plants is one 

 of such interest, alike to physiologists and practical cultivators, that no apology 

 is needed for bringing the subject again and again under the notice of our 

 readers. Among the gourd family, the results of experiments are so striking 

 and so beautiful, that it is no wonder that special attention should be paid to 

 them by French amateurs ; though it is strange that their British confrtres have 

 not followed suit to a greater extent tlian they have yet done. With a view of 

 calling attention to the subject, we propose to give now a summary of M. Ger- 

 main de Saint Pierre's experiments, as recorded in "The Bulletin of the Botan- 

 ical Society of France." The gentleman just named tells us that he sowed 

 seeds of the handsome Za^^w^ar/iZ sphcErica, from which in due time plants were 

 raised, bearing female flowers only. Desirous, however, of seeing the fruit of 

 this fine gourd arrive at maturity, M. Germain de Saint Pierre fertilized some 

 of the female flowers with the pollen of the serpent gourd, La-^enaria vul<^aris. 

 The two species are so diifercnt, that the experimenter scarcely expected any 

 result ; but, after a considerable interval, one fruit was produced. Meanwhile 

 some male flowers of the La^enaria sphcerica were produced, and sufficed to 

 fertilize the female flowers. The observer had thus under view one fruit formed 

 in consequence of a hybrid cross between two species and others produced nor- 

 mally. So like, however, were all the fruits, that it was supposed, after all, that 

 there had been no cross, and that the fruit supposed to have such an origin had 

 really beei impregnated by some undetected male flower. 



VOL. IV. 47 



