i8o 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Floral Aberrations. — During the past season 1 

 met with some curious instances of malformed flowers, 

 the most striking being furnished by a plant of red 

 deadnettle {Lamiiini piirptu-eitin). It attracted my 

 attention by apparently bearing, instead of the 

 numerous whorls of flowers, one whori only terminat- 

 ing the stem. Closer inspection showed that the 

 seeming whorl consisted merely of one flower, of a 

 type that placed it far from the order Labiatae, and 

 indeed outside the group Gamopetalae. The sepals 

 were separate ; the petals also distinct, narrow, and 

 long-stalked, with the blade spreading. The stamens, 

 like the sepals and petals, were five in number and all 

 of a similar length. Instead of the usual form of 

 pistil, this organ was spindle-shaped, and terminated 

 by a short style. It will be seen that this regular 

 polypetalous five-stamened flower departed greatly 

 from the usual, irregular, two-lipped, gamopetalous 

 flower, with four stamens arranged in a long and a 

 short pair, of the Labiate plants. Another member 

 of this order with curious flowers, was a plant of 

 woundwort \Stachys sylvatica). The flowers were 

 green and red in colour, the corollas widely two- 

 lipped, and not much longer than the calyx. The 

 stamens were barren, the anthers being small and 

 shrivelled. In most cases the ovary was much larger 

 than usual, the interior occupied by a bud of small 

 greenish leaves in place of ovules. In a cornfield 

 near Horsley, Surrey, many specimens of a cornsalad 

 showed malformed flowers of a very peculiar charac- 

 ter. They were all yellowish and much larger than 

 the ordinary flowers. The calyx instead of being 

 small or even quite indistinct, was here the most 

 conspicuous member of the flower, and was divided 

 into five spreading lobes. The corolla was smaller 

 and the stamens abortive. The pistil in some flowers 

 was represented by a small leaf-like organ situated in 

 the centre. All the surfaces of these flowers were 

 strongly papillose. A few years ago I came across some 

 abnormal bramble flowers of a very instructive charac- 

 ter, and during the present year encountered somewhat 

 similar flowers. In these latter flowers, the sepals 

 were larger and more prolonged than usual, the petals 

 dull red, the stamens all sterile, and the exceptionally 

 numerous carpels spindle-.shaped. The floral axis 

 was either shortened or so lengthened, that a 

 distance varying as much as an inch separated 

 stamens from carpels. — C. G. BHtton, ^^, Diigdalc 

 Street, CainberwelU S.E. 



Wild Like in London. — The autumnal visit of 

 the seagulls to the river Thames at London has, within 

 the last few years, Ijecome as certain a migration as 

 that of birds to our shores from the north They arrived 

 in numbers about the 14th of October, though some 

 came previously, and by that date there were several 

 hundreds tame enough to be fed on the embankment 

 wall between Blackfriars and Waterloo Bridges. The 

 windows of the editorial room of Science-Gossip at 

 no. Strand, overlook the precincts of the ancient 

 Chapel Royal, Savoy, where the open space is planted 

 with grass and a couple of dozen plane and other 

 trees, some being sixty or more feet high. During 

 the past summer we have observed from our windows 



at least four species of butterflies, viz., Pieris brizssieag 

 P. jiapt, Anthochaj'is eardiniines 2ind I'auessalurtuae\ 

 In the trees a pair of wood pigeon (Cohimba 

 paliiiiibns) successfully reared two broods of youngj 

 while there are numerous nests of common sparrows. 

 The males of the vapourer moth (Orgyia antiqtia) 

 were often seen. It must not, therefore, be said that 

 one cannot study natural history in London, as this 

 green oasis is only separated from the stream of traffic 

 in the Strand by the breadth of the house. — Flora 

 Winstone, 21st Oeiober. 



Koelrenteria Fruiting in England. — I for- 

 ward you a specimen Rnelrenteria paniailata in 

 flower and fruit. It was cut from a tree in m\' garden 

 at Epping, in Essex. The shrub is a native of North 

 China, and it is stated in most botanical books that it 

 never fruits in England. It did so, however, in i860, 

 when I picked some seeds at Kew from one of which 

 my plant was raised. This specimen has not fruited 

 until this autumn, though it has bloomed on previous 



Koelrenteria Paniculata in Fruit .Tiid Flower. 



occasions. The fruiting may probably be accounted 

 for by the hot summer of last year ripening the wood 

 that bore the flower of this season. The seed vessels 

 are handsome, being crimson and yellow ; which 

 with the bright yellow autumnal tint of the leaves, 

 makes a beautiful object in the garden. I hear from 

 the Secretary of the Royal Horticultural Society, that 

 a few other trees of this species ha\e produced this 

 season flowers and fruit in various parts of England. 

 We are indebted to Miss Rose Purchas, Alstonfield 

 Vicarage, Ashbourne, for the illustration. — U'illiain 

 Pearson, Kedgrove, Epping. 



