a 
in the matter here. 
whe eee NATURE 
I2!I 
seat ; it appeared to lnm as if he had a bad cold and could 
not hear distinctly. 5 
These wires appeared to prevent the voices rising and filling 
the cathedral. It seems very difficult to determine where to 
place the wires so as to produce a really good effect ; but that 
they have a very great effect far beyond what one would have 
supposed, @ friori, is admitted by all who have taken an interest 
Several members of the congregation have 
remarked that they heard better in the cathedral now, without 
knowing the cause. We have used very thin wire; a stranger 
would not perceive it unless his attention were called to it. We 
hope to make some further experiments especially with regard 
to the transepts of the cathedral. 
The inexpensive nature of the experiment and the important 
result likely to be obtained make this a matter of great import- 
ance, independently of the great interest it possesses in a 
scientific point of view. 
Imay add that when in Dublin I attended Divine service 
in St. Andrew’s Church, and having officiated in the church at 
different times I am well aware of the difficulty of filling it in 
consequence of the echo, but the use of the wires appeared to 
have made a very great difference, as I heard most distinctly. 
It seemed to me, however, that a far greater number were used, 
than my experience in Cork would have led me to suppose were 
necessary. 
I hope this subject will receive the attention which it deserves. 
J. J. Murphy, Esq. ROBERT S, GREGG 
Fertilisation of the Wild Pansy 
THERE are two points in the structure of the heartsease (Vio/a 
tricolor) which are not mentioned in Mr. Bennett’s interesting 
article on its fertilisation, but which, I think, deserve notice. 
The first of these is the lip of the stigma, which closes the en- 
trance to the spur and must be pushed back by an insect trying 
to reach the nectary, thereby bending down the head of the 
stigma, so as to sweep any pollen that may be adhering to those 
parts of the insect which come into contact with it into its re- 
ceptacle ; while, in withdrawing, the insect necessarily presses 
against the lower side of the lip, and raises up the whole stigma, 
thus rendering self-impregnation impossible, or at least highly 
improbable. Modifications of the same contrivance may be 
seen in many other flowers, ¢.¢. Finguicula, Tris, &c.; it reaches, 
perhaps, its greatest perfection in A/imulus and Bignonia,t 
where, to the usual mechanical disposition of the parts, there is 
added irritability of the stigmatic lobes, which close together 
spontaneously when touched, expanding again after a while, if 
not already pollenated.{ 
The second point to which I have alluded is the close, hairy 
lining of the fore part of the spur, forming a narrow groove 
at the base of the lowest petal. This groove generally contains 
* Both these points have already been described by Prof. Hildebrand 
(‘Die Geschlechter-Vertheilung bei den Pflanzen,” p. 53). Unfortunately, 
T have not the works of Sprengel and Hermann Miiller to refer to. 
+ Ihave had no opportunity of examining the latter, but from the pub- 
lished descriptions it seems to correspond in its main features with Mimudus, 
of the process of fertilisation of which a full account has been given by Mr. 
F. E. Kitchener in the Yournal of Botany for April. 
} When it becomes necessary to introduce a new word into the language 
it is always well to select the most appropriate that offers itself. Some time 
ago Mr. A. W. Bennett wrote to the ¥ournad of Botany (vol. ix. p. 112), 
asking for suggestions for a better rendering of the German word Bestanbung 
than “‘be-pollenment ’ or “‘pollenization.” I afterwards (Fourn. ot., vol. 
X. p. 25) proposed the term “ pollenation,” which has since been accepted by 
Mr. Bennett. He, however, continues to use the verb to “‘pollenize.” Now, 
if I might be allowed the space, I should like to state my reasons for object- 
ing to this expression—(z) The root fod/ex is Latin, while the termination 
«{w is Greek. Of course, this objection is over-ruled by common usage, and 
by itself would go for nothing, (2) The word “‘pollenize” does not in its 
structure convey the idea intended. Zestduden means to “‘sprinkle with 
dust,” to “dust with pollen.” The termination ‘‘ize,” on the other hand, 
gives the signification of change or conversion ; thus to “‘pollenize” would 
naturally mean to ‘‘ pulverize,” to “ turn to flour or pollen,” and might be 
correctly applied to the processes going on in the substance of the anthers, 
but not, without violence to grammar, to the application of pollen to the 
stigma. Numerous precedents might be cited for the use of the word 
“pollen,” unaltered, as a verb, from which would be derivable either 
“‘pollenation” or ‘‘ pollenment,” but this would be at the risk of offence to 
ears scientific. The same objection would apply with still greater force to 
the word “be-pollen.” ‘‘Empollen” is more euphonious, but would con- 
vey a slightly different meaning. On the whole, the word that I have used 
in the text is the best that 1 can think of. Perhaps some of your more 
classical readers might give us their opinions. 
§ Morphologically speaking, this is the uppermost petal, which, by the 
bending of the peduncle and consequent inversion of the flower, is made to 
assume the position best fitted to afford a convenient landing-place for 
EE eee eee 
a quantity of pollen that has fallen from the overhanging anthers. 
There is also a small tuft of hairs at the base of each of the 
lateral petals, arching over the essential organs, and forcing an 
insect to approach the nectary from below. These lateral tufts 
are present, I believe, in all the violets, but Y. ¢ricolor (includ- 
ing therein several sub-species) is the only British species which 
has the spur lined with hairs, as well as the only one not known 
to bear self-fertile cleistogenous flowers. 
Although the flowers of the wild heartsease are quite scentless 
to our blunt organs, does it follow that they are necessarily so to 
an insect’s far more delicate sense?* Some of the cultivated 
pansies are very sweet, and I am not aware that this quality has 
ever been made an object for selection by florists. These large 
garden pansies are much frequented by Bombus muscorum, 
which may be watched while performing the act of pollenation, 
as described by Prof. Hildebrand. W. E. Harr 
Kilderry, Co, Donegal 
P.S.—Mr. Farrer, in writing of Lotus corniculatus (NATURE, 
vol, vi. p. 499), says :— ‘‘ Five of the stamens, viz., those of the 
inner whorl, are shorter than the others, and their filaments are 
dilated at the top.” Here Mr. Farrer’s usually accurate pen 
seems somehow to have madea slip. It is the long outer sta- 
mens, those opposite the calyx-teeth, which have their filaments 
thus curiously modified for the purpose there explained. 
Fertilisation of Orchids 
Mr. DaRwIN, in,his ‘ Fertilisation of Orchids,” speaks of a 
Madagascar orchid (Angraecum sesquipedale) with nectaries 11} 
inches long, and supposes that these plants must be fertilised by 
the efforts of huge moths, with probosces capable of such ex- 
pansion, to obtain the last drops of the nectar which is secreted 
in the lower part of these whip-like nectaries, Can any of your 
readers tell me whether moths of such a size are known to in- 
habit Madagascar? They would probably be Sphingide of 
some kind, as no other moths would combine sufficient size and 
length of proboscis. W. A. Forbes 
Culverlea, Winchester, June 2 
Ground Ivy 
I HAVE this spring found, in many different places, specimens 
of ground ivy, having flowers with undeveloped stamens. They 
seem generally, though not always, to be on different plants 
from those bearing perfect flowers, and below the average in 
size, the tube being more slender. Also, in nearly all my speci- 
mens, the stigmas diverge in a more or less horizontal direction 
(across the flower) instead of remaining open in the usual vertical 
one. Is this second form of the flower common? and if so, 
may not the greater tendency to horizontal divergence compen- 
sate for the want of stamens, by bringing the stigmas into the 
position most favourable for receiving from an insect any pollen 
which a previous visit to a perfect flower may have left on its 
head or back ? S. S. D, 
Hail Storm 
i DurRING the passage across us this afternoon of a thunder- 
storm moving at so great a distance above the earth that the 
thunder was very feeble and the lightning very faint, we had a 
great hail storm, which commenced with conical-shaped opaque 
stones of the size of peas, at 42 27™ (only lasting one minute), 
beginning again at 45 29™ with circular transparent stones having 
a small opaque nucleus (again only lasting one minute), followed 
at 45 33™ with flattened stones of the form of commonacid drops, 
transparent, except a thin opaque envelope (which soon melted), 
and having externally in the centre a small rugged piece of ice. 
The size varied from two to three inches in circumference, and the 
force with which they fell cut off the leaves from the trees and 
broke 200 panes of glass in my greenhouses. These stones con- 
tinued to fall for seven minutes with very heavy rain. 
Twelve hailstones were gathered after the storm was over, 
and on being melted yielded 0'060 inch of water when measured 
in the glass of an eight-inch gauge, and the amount caught within 
an eight-inch hoop measured 0°750 of an inch, and this added to 
the rain, gave 1°430 inches,as the amount fallen during the 
storm. E, J. Lowe 
Highfield House Obsery., Nottingham, June 3 
* The flowers of V. Jalustris, which are nearly unicolorous with a few 
dark lines pointing to the nectary, are apparently scentless; but after 
ae for a short time in water in a warm room, they become quite 
swee! 
