114 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[May 1, 1865. 



Peimkoses in a Room.— There is a very easy, 

 but I do not know whether it is a commonly known, 

 way of keeping primroses in bloom in a room. The 

 whole plant should be taken up, and the mould 

 cleared from the roots. It should then be placed in 

 a shallow vessel kept well supplied with water (an 

 ordinary saucer will serve the turn admirably). 

 With a little moss placed round the plant, it forms 

 a very pleasing, although simple ornament to the 

 (h-awing-room table. The plant will continue to 

 bloom for weeks, and generally produces abundance 

 of flowers. These, after the first few weeks, be- 

 come of an unusually pale tint, and prove, I fancy, 

 that artists are right in saying that primrose-colour 

 is a delicate green. Some plants that have been 

 tried this year had flower-stalks seven, and even 

 more, inches in length, — B. Bl. 



The Ivy {Heclera helix) . — Is it a generally-known 

 fact that the ivy occasionally produces blossoms in 

 the early spring, as well as in the autumn ? I find 

 in ray diary for last year an entry, under the date of 

 March 7, to the effect that I then observed, near 

 Parson's-green, Middlesex, a branch of ivy, almost 

 leafless, bearing several heads of blossom of a bright 

 yellow colour; and on the 25th of last month, I 

 noticed, in a hedge near High Wycombe, a similar 

 specimen, having two or three heads of well-deve- 

 loped flower-buds. In both cases the specimens had 

 flowered in the previous autumn. Perhaps some 

 correspondent may be able to adduce similar in- 

 stances. — B. 



TuNBBiDGE Pern {Hymeiwphyllum Tnnhridgense). 

 •■ — This interesting species is included in the last 

 number of "Beddome's Perns of Southern India," 

 where the author states that he has found it on the 

 mountains close to Chokampatty (Tinncvelly), at an 

 elevation of 5,000 feet. It had previously been 

 found in Ceylon, and also to extend to the Austra- 

 lasian Colonies. 



Devonshire Misletoe (see p. 88). — Our cor- 

 respondent was certainly wrong in affirming that 

 the misletoe and cowslip are unknown in Devonshire. 

 We have received several communications, whicli 

 we regret that our space will not allow us to publish. 

 Both plants have several localities in this county, 

 and the misletoe does not appear to be at all rare. — 

 Bd. Sc. G, 



Horse-chestnuts.— In avillage, about three miles 

 from Puteaux, near Paris, was, four years ago, a 

 large starch manufactory. The materials consisted 

 wliolly of horse-chestnuts, and the starch was ex- 

 cellent.— P. B. 8. J. 



New Irish Diatom.— The Microscopical Journal 

 contains an account of the discovery of Aruchnoi- 

 discus ornatus in a pool of bi-ackish water at Mala- 

 liidCj in the county of Dublin- 



The Language or Plowers.— Can you picture 

 to yourself a man going wooing with a " Delphinum 

 Donkelserii " in his button-hole ? Don't you think 

 Snapdragon hardly an august enough translation of 

 "Antirrhinum caryophylloides ? " No humble-bee 

 would venture to show its nose in an " Indigofera- 

 coccinea endecaphylla," and I should like you to 

 tell me, off-hand, what a " Guiterezia gymnosper- 

 moides" smells like, or a "Cucumis aradac." — Jones" 

 Holiday Papers. 



Bloody-man's Pingers. — Adverting to p. 36, 

 the reason why some parents discard orchis-flowers 

 from their children's nosegays, may have some su- 

 perstitious connection with the legend which states 

 that a species of Orchis grew plentifully on Mount 

 Calvary, and was unspotted until the crucifixion, 

 when some drops of blood fell, and spotted it. 

 There are many such legends, one of which, equally 

 authentic, states that the aspen has always been 

 tremulous since that event, because "the cross" 

 was made of its wood. It has also been affirmed, 

 on the same authority, that the fig-tree poisons all 

 other trees near it, having acquired this property 

 only since the curse was pronounced on " the barren 

 fig-tree."—^. V. 



Cryptogamic Vegetation in Sikicim Hima- 

 laya.— There were few mosses ; but crustaceous 

 lichens were numerous, and nearly all of them 

 Scotch, Alpine, European, and Ai'ctic kinds. The 

 names of these, given by the classic Linnaeus and 

 Wahleuberg, tell in some cases of their birthplaces, 

 in others of their hardihood, their livid colours and 

 weather-beaten aspects ; such as tristis, gelida, gla- 

 cialis, arctica, alpina, saxatilis, polaris,frigida, and 

 numerous others equally familiar to the Scotch 

 botanist. The lichen called geographicus was most 

 abundant, and is found to indicate a certain degree 

 of cold in every latitude : descending to the level of 

 the sea in lat. 52° N. and 59'' S., whilst in lower la- 

 titudes it is only to be seen on mountains. It flou- 

 rishes at 10,000 feet in the Himalaya, ascending 

 thence to 18,000 feet. Its name, however, was not 

 intended to indicate its wide range, but the curious 

 map-like patterns Avhich its yellow crust forms on 

 the rocks. — Hooker's Himalayan Journal. 



Self-Pertilization. — It is an astonishing fact 

 that self-fertilization should not have been an habi- 

 tual occurrence. It apparently demonstrates to us 

 that there must be something injurious in the pro- 

 cess. Nature thus tells us, in the most emphatic 

 manner, that she abhors perpetual self-fertilization. 

 — Darwin! s Fertilization of Orchids. 



Mr. Darwin has announced a new work, entitled 

 " Domesticated Animals and Cultivated Plants, or 

 the Principles of Yariation, Inheritance, lleunion. 

 Crossing, Interbreeding, and Selection under Domes- 

 tication." 



