1 6 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



I think little has been written regarding the 

 variable character of these dots. The only author 

 I have found is Bromfield, who was, in a measure, 

 my early patron and preceptor in botanical study. 

 In "Flora Vectensis," writing of H. perforatum, 

 he takes occasion to note the difference in the 

 character of the dots in various species, which, in 

 some, take the form of anastomosing pellucid veins. 

 " I do not find," he concludes, "any notice taken 

 of this character by any author I have consulted." 

 I have seen none since his work appeared in 1856. 



ORIGIN OF THE FORMS OF FLOWERS. 



In my intercourse with intelligent and observing 

 botanists, who frequently do not place their con- 

 clusions on record, I find a growing tendency to 

 discredit views, till recently widely prevalent, that 

 external conditions have any more than a feeble 

 influence on the evolution of the forms of flowers. 

 Thought is in the direction that various degrees of 

 internal energy seem rather the chief agents in 

 effecting change. 



Listening to some verbal remarks before the 

 Botanical Club of the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science, at Buffalo, New York, 

 by Mr. David F. Day, I was struck by his point 

 that irregular flowers were usually associated with 

 the curving or twisting of the peduncle, while 

 Tegular flowers and straight peduncles were usually 

 ■closely related. I saw this subsequently well illus- 

 trated in lilies. In the class to which belong 

 Lilium philaddphicum and L. catesbwi, the upright 

 flowers are perfectly regular ; irregularity, in some 

 of the floral parts, characterizing the nodding ones. 

 The nodding peduncles, after flowering, become 

 erect, and in the seed-bearing stage the seed-vessels 

 are erect on perfectly straight peduncles in both 

 classes. It. is evident from this fact that in the 

 species with drooping flowers the expansion of the 

 perianth occurred before the uncoiling energy had 

 been exhausted, and during a rhythmic rest. It is 

 further evident that the growth-waves prevailing in 

 the development of the flower varied in intensity in 

 different parts, and that varying forms must neces- 

 sarily follow from these varying degrees of energy. 

 Unequal pressure by reason of the curve ought to 

 be accountable for this inequality. It is, however, 

 evident that outside agencies could not have had 

 much, if any, influence in the curving which results 

 in irregularities of these lilies. Some excellent 

 illustrations are often seen where an erect flower 

 occasionally occurs on a plant which generally has 

 the pedicels more or less curved. Some gloxinias 

 and other Gesneriaceous plants will readily recur to 

 the intelligent observer. Gesneria elongata, a South 

 American species, popular in garden culture, often 

 has these erect flowers. In this case the flowers 

 are perfectly regular, and of a different character 

 in other respects from the normal ones. 

 (To be continued.) 



SCIENCE AND ART MUSEUMS. 



C IR JOHN GORST'S Committee on theMuseums 

 of the Science and Art Department, in conse- 

 quence of the evidence brought before it and the 

 personal examination by its members, of the 

 buildings at South Kensington, has issued an 

 interim report urgently drawing the attention of 

 Parliament to the peril to which the priceless 

 collections are exposed of destruction by fire. The 

 Committee consider that such a lamentable event 

 might have long ago occurred but for the great 

 care exercised by the police in charge. The 

 buildings are at best only temporary, and largely 

 constructed of varnished wood, lath and plaster. 

 The Committee recommend that the exhibits 

 should be immediately withdrawn from public 

 inspection, and the buildings properly constructed 

 and completed. Considering that the Kensington 

 Science and Art collection is almost unequalled in 

 value, we imagine the public would not begrudge 

 the spending department at once finishing the 

 permanent buildings for its housing. 



RONTGEN RAYS PICTURES OF 

 SHELLS. 



\ TS 7E are indebted to Mr. Wilfred Mark Webb, 

 * * F.L.S., for the use of the accompanying 

 interesting " sciagraphs " of shells, which appeared 

 as Plate iii. of "The Journal of Malacology" for 

 May (vol. vi., No. 1). The portraits were taken 

 by Messrs. W. Watson and Sons, of High Holborn, 

 London, for Mr. Webb's journal. They show how 

 useful the Rontgen rays may be for examining the 

 inner structure of a shell, and suggest quite a new 

 means of studying the interiors without having to 

 break up the shells for that purpose. The follow- 

 ing is an explanation of the figures : 



Figs. 1 to 7 are a series of shells of a cowry, 

 Cypraea arabica, from the South Pacific Isles, 

 showing the changes which take place during 

 growth. 



Figs. 1 and 2. — Young specimens in which the 

 shell is a simple spiral one with a thin unreflected 

 lip. N.B. — The spires are somewhat worn at the 



tip- 

 Fig. 3. — In this shell the lip has expanded, the 

 edge has curled inwards, and a row of " teeth " is 

 beginning to make its appearance there. 



Fig. 4. — Here another row of " teeth" is to be 

 seen on the body of the shell approximately 

 parallel to that on the edge of the lip. 



Fig. 5. — This shell is thicker, owing to the 

 deposition of layers of "nacre" upon its outside 

 by the mantle flaps which are protruded by the 

 animal and which cover the shell and meet in the 

 middle line on its dorsal surface. The "teeth" 

 are now more evident. 



