18 The Botanical Gazette. [January. 2 
flower or leaf as-the case might be. The analyses can be 
easily made by any one and after a little practice with a good © 
degree of accuracy. The objects to be gained by such an- — 
alyses are twofold, viz., the determination of floral color with 
something like accuracy and the development of a keener per- 
ception of color relations. Discs in these standard hues can 
be obtained at a moderate price and they can be used on any — 
apparatus for rotating the Maxwell discs. 3 
It has already been intimated that greater confusion pre- if 
vails with regard to violet than any other color. By some 
writers purple has been used to designate the most refrang- _ 
able color of the solar spectrum. This is very unfortunate 
and has led to a great many errors that are exceedingly diffi- : 
cult of correction at the present time. All of the numerous 
hues to which the term purple is properly applied are com- 
binations of red and violet, often modified by the presence — 
of some white light and almost always with more or less of _ 
black, thus forming what is called a broken purple. In the — 
above analyses we have in-the fringed polygala the red 
and violet in nearly equal proportions. The color of the 
flowering quince is slightlyviolet red modified by the presence — 
of a small portion of white, On the other hand the color of _ 
the wistaria is a reddish violet, in the wings modified by white _ 
in the standard. Thecranesbillis a still more red violet, i. &, 
it comes nearer to a purple. 4 
The colors assigned to the flowers whose analysis I have — 
given above in two of the botanical text books most commonly _ 
used in our schools are as follows: under the description of F 
calls the same flower simply ‘‘purple.” 
Springfield, Mass. 4 
