e 
o : schizomycetes and saccharomycetes, from which, with the aid of an. 
College, Mich 
270 BOTANICAL GAZETTE. [ November, 
because the water is so well shaded from the sun. Upon July 20, there 
was a copious rain that filled all the cups, and it was five days before any 
marked diminution of the water was noticed. At the end of fourteen 
days many of the lower cups still contained water. The cups were found 
to contain from 300-to 600 ce, An average plant would hold about a _ 
liter, and a large plant as much as a liter and a half. 
It seems more probable that the object of the cups with their water 
is to protect the plant from crawling insects, which it does most effect- — 
ually. The blossoms are frequented by bees and other flying insects, but 
upon the plants are found no ants or other crawling animals. e 
hooked prickles so thickly set along the stems, and especially on the — 
stem just beneath the blossoms, are a perfect barrier against snails, slugs 
and such soft-bodied animals, while the water keeps away the hard- 
bodied insects. The flowers are not well arranged for cross-fertilization 
by ants, as the anthers and stigmas are raised so far above the throat 0 
the corolla that ants would not reach them easily and naturally. 
It is doubtless to the advantage of the plant that such insects be kept 
away, as they would take the nectar and yield nothing in return. - 
It is perhaps worthy of notice that no bridge is thrown across this 
moat until the falling flowers cover the surface, and then it is too late 
for them to be injured by marauding ants.—W. J. Beat and C. E. Sr. JoHN. 
Bud on a pear stem.—The 
base of the fruit. This singu- = 
: lar disposition is additional 
proof, if any were needed, that the fruit stalk is essentially a true stem 
bearing a transformed cluster of leaves.—L. H. Barney, JR. Agricultural e 
very successful, and may suggest something of value here. 
_ A few drops of fresh beer-yeast were shaken in a test tube = wel 
“ai fluid. . This, flowed upon sterilized plates, gave in twenty 
ours, at ordinary room temperature, a great number of Mens 
