Briefer Ai ticks. jy 



nial spring, and one egg failinor to hatch, might have remained in 

 the nest. I have seen such a locahty where the still green and 

 growing moss was slowly but surely becoming petrified (/. e.. in- 

 crusted by a mineral. de|)osited on its surface, by the water flow- 

 ing over it), while other mosses had become wholly petrified. 

 The vegetable substance in some specimens had decayed, while 

 in others, only the fibres, incrusted by a calcareous bubstance, 

 still remained. Specimens ot petrified moss are not rare from 

 the State of Michigan, but the locality I refer to was in the moun- 

 tains of Lower California, and I am confident that the 'water is 

 drv" a great portion of the year and would not interfere with nest 

 building, should a bird select the site and begin operations before 

 the rainy season. C. R. Orcutl. 



Albinism .\mong F'lowers. — The editor has collected speci- 

 mens of each of the following plants bearing only j^ure white flow- 

 ers. Usually the whole plant was of a lighter green than that of 

 the other plants which bore flowers of the normal hue. 



Delphinium decorum, F. &. M. Brodicea capitata, Bth. 



Linaria Canadensis, Dum. Sidalcea humilis. Gray. 



Mirabilis Californica, Gray. Gilia dianthoides, Endl. 



Orthocarpus purpurascens, Benth. Erythraea venusta. Gray. 



A single plant of Mimulus cardinalis, Dough, was once found 

 in Lower California, with yellow flowers, which a well known 

 botanist i;)roposed to call a new species, but I advised him of its 

 true character in season. 



The Erythraea venusta, Gray , is often i)ure white and runs 

 through the lighter shades of purple into its normal color. In 

 the wet spring of 1884 I secured so many large and beautiful 

 white-flowered specimens of this, as to lead Dr. Gray to inquire 

 if it was not a valid species The plant is very variable otherwise 

 as to size and shape of foliage and flowers. C. R. Orcuit. 



PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 



San Francisco Microscopical Society,— June 12th, 1889. 



A. H. Beckenfeld. the Vice President, was present for the first 

 time since recovering from his severe illness, and was cordially wel- 

 comed. His contribution to the evening's programme represented 

 some fine specimens of Melacerta ringens, a tube-building rotifer, 

 belonging to the family of wheel animalcules. This variety is 

 considered the mcst beautiful of the species, and builds for its 

 protection an ingenious tube, which it lorms of round pellets that 

 are elaborated in the interior ot the animalcule, and securely 

 gummed together with a secretion derived from the same source. 

 This rotifer, when feeding, extends itself partly from its tube and 

 by means of several rows of cilia produces a rapid rotary motion 

 one set ot cilia drawing a current of water containing food to its 

 piouth, while another row ejects the debris by a current produced 



