Jan. 1, 1865.] 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



19 



"8. Here, again, we have a very singular con- 

 dition : t]\e calyx and corolla separated from eacli 

 other, the stamens partly dcTeloped, the axis con- 

 tinued beyond the corolla, branched and bearing 

 normal leaves so as exactly to resemble an ordinary 

 stem, while in consequ.ence of the calyx and corolla 

 being bent down to the ground, adventitious roots 

 were developed from the axis on the under side 

 above each of them. In another case, where the 

 calyx and corolla were approximated, the ovary 

 was open above and sent out six shoots from 

 within, perfectly developed, clearly representing 

 the central placenta and five axile buds, and each 

 giving out a number of adventitious roots at its 

 base." 



Hermaphrodite Catkins in Salix auuita. — 

 I have this year gathered two species of willow, 

 namely, Salix fusca and S. aurita, in which a gradual 

 transformation of stamens into pistils, that is, male 

 into female flowers, is apparent. The normal state 

 of the plants we know is dioicous. The bushes of 

 S. aurita from which my specimens were collected, 

 grow at the south end of the Gillbrook, in a very 

 moist, boggy place, and altogether spread over some 

 four or five square yards. All the catkins are more 

 or less hermaphrodite, from those fully developed to 

 those just emerging from the protective scales. 

 There are many bushes of the female plant growing 

 near, wliieh present no unnatural variation. A 

 cm-eful examination has enabled me to select a 

 long series (nearly thirty) of different conditions, 

 sliowing the stages of metamorphosis from one ex- 

 treme to the other. It appears from these, that the 

 change is very various in its character and extent in 

 individual flowers ; almost all, however, range them- 

 selves under one of the forms mentioned below. No 

 change was perceptible in the scale or gland. 



1. Eilaments distinct, one bearing an ordinary 

 antlier, the other having at its summit an ovarium, 

 sometimes with, and sometimes without, a small 

 mass of pollen on one side, in either case con- 

 taining ovules of less than the ordinary size. The 

 anther-bearing filament withers away, 



2. Eilameuts united in the lower portion, dividing 

 about two-thirds up into two arms, each bearing a 

 small ovarium instead of an anther; one of these 

 when more developed is grey and silky, and in shape 

 resembles the ordinary lanceolate germen or carpel. 

 Its fellow apparently does not enlarge. Ovules 

 contained. The stigmas dark brown. 



3. Eilaraents united through their whole length, 

 short and thick, surmounted by a downy green 

 ovarium, cleft from the apex half or two-thirds of 

 the way down. On the inner face of one side pollen 

 is sometimes seen. There is perhaps in this form 

 more appearance of the union or cohesion of iivo 

 ovaries in tlieir lower portion, than of actually bciug 

 one and cleft as stated above. 



4. Filaments united at the base, one stamen is 

 transformed into an ovarium, the other is not 

 enlarged, but terminates in a kind of stigma. — 

 F. M. Webb in NaiuralisU Scrap Book. 



New Bhitish Lichens. — In the Annals of 

 Natural History the Eev. YI. A. Leighton describes 

 and figures three species of lichens new to this 

 country. They are named respectively Thelocarjpon 

 Laureri, Lecldea Caradocensis, and L. Friesii. The 

 first was found on a decorticated larch rail at 

 Middleton, in Shropshire. The second has been found 

 in Shropshire, Herefordshire and Leicestei'shire, 

 on oak pahngs, &c., and third on old oak trees and 

 stumps in Cleveland, Yorkshire. 



Stakey Puee Ball {Geaster hjgroraetriciis). — 

 The Hev. H. H. Higgins exhibited a specimen of 

 this curious fungus at a meeting of the Liverpool 

 Literary and Philosophical Society, Nov. 14. It had 

 been recently found on a bank at Rainhill, growing 

 upon a portion of a decayed root of a bii'ch tree. 

 It was remarked that all the larger species of earth 

 stars, or starry puff balls, were uncommon. This 

 constitutes the fourth species of Geaster found in 

 the neighbourhood of Liverpool.— T/^e Reader. 



Yv''hat ABE EossiLs ? — Eossils are the actual 

 remains of animals and vegetables, or other cer- 

 tain indications of their existence, found on ex- 

 amining the rocks of which the earth's crust is 

 made up. The time has been in the history of 

 science when the presence of the shells of marine 

 animals, or the teeth or bones of quadrupeds or 

 fishes in rocks, has been actually denied, de- 

 spised, or explained away. When, indeed, the 

 number of recorded examples of such fragments 

 was few, and the places where they were found 

 distant, this mode of escaping from a great difficulty 

 in natural history was thought fair and reasonable ; 

 but now that almost every limestone, and a large 

 proportion of all sandstones, clays, and gravels, are 

 found to multiply evidence on the subject ; when the 

 microscope is daily discovering fresh pi'oof of tiie 

 former existence of life in every direction ; and when 

 no country is without large and remarkable collec- 

 tions of strange and unfamiliar forms of various 

 animals, obtained, not from the species actually 

 living now in the country, but from the soil and rock 

 beneath man's feet ; it would be foUy to waste time 

 in proving the interest and importance of a subject 

 so brought home to the senses. We now regard it 

 as an admiited fact that almost every rock contains 

 sonic fossils, and it remains only to consider what 

 are the conditions in which these occur, the kind of 

 animals or vegetables to which they belong, the 



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