SCIENCE-GOSSIF. 



and a fluid (the blood) in each maxilla. They are 

 strengthened by numeroxis chitinous rings connected 

 by flexible chitine. The nerves are not sufficiently 

 difierentiated in this section to be distinguislied. If 

 it were possible, which it really is not, for the insect 

 to make such an " expiratory effort" as would remove 

 the air from the tracheal vessels of the maxillae, it 

 could not possibly have any efilect upon the air in 

 tlie lumen formed by the concave walls of the 

 maxillae, because the walls are rigid in a transverse 

 direction. The spiral fibres also in the large 

 tracheal vessel l^eep them always distended ; there- 

 fore I cannot support Mrs. Major's very pretty 

 theory. Neither can I endorse that of Mr. Bostock. 

 In the many dipterous insects that I have dissected 

 the so-called " sucking stomacli " has invariably 

 contained more or less food ; but supposing the sac 

 not to be distended by food, and to be partially 

 filled with air, how is the air to become rarefied ? 

 I can conceive of this being efliected in only one 

 of two ways. Either there are special muscles 

 for enlarging the capacity of the sac, or other- 

 wise expansion of the air is efliected by heat. 

 In the former case I havenotmet with any muscles 

 that could perform such an act, and in the latter 

 the temperature of the insect would have to be 

 raised whenever it required to feed. It is generally 

 admitted that the temperature of the individual 

 animal is pretty constant, and such sudden changes 

 could not take place. Doubtless Mr. Bostock has 

 proofs to uphold his theory, and it would be 

 interesting if be would give them. Is it not 

 possible that in the alimentary canal itself this 

 commonly called " sucking action " may originate ? 

 Not only the annular muscles of tlie pro-ventriculus 

 or gizzard, but those of the crop and oesophagus, 

 when frequently sliglitly contracted, would expel 

 sufficient air to cause an intermittent inflow of 

 fluid food. In the common Cabbage Butterfly the 

 gizzard is absent, but, according to New-port, the 

 crop is very richly supplied with annular muscles 

 (compare flg. 2). — Wm. Jcnkinson. 



[The later explanations of the method by which 

 Lepidopterous insects suck up their food may be 

 briefly summarised as follows. The oesophagus is 

 expanded just behind the mouth, so as toactasthe 

 actual means of suction ; in fact, as akind of sucking 

 pump. The food being liquid, tliere is no need for 

 a gizzard ; and the oesophagus, tliough of consider- 

 able length, leads practically direct into the 

 stomach. Mr. Jenkinson is correct in his deduc- 

 tions as to the so-called "sucking stomach," as it 

 is now known to be a reservoir for food only. — Ed. 

 Microscopy, S.-G.] 



Sections of the PiilviUi of Sarcophaf/a oa/rnaria 

 (see pp. 121, 122). — I am not quite sure of the 

 meaning of the term " semi- or half-tubes." Tire 

 tubes seem to me to be separate. I do not see 

 why the walls of the gland-case should not be 

 porous, and the viscid fluid ooze through. I con- 

 sider the suggestion tliat the viscid fluid takes up 

 and retains disease germs for the benefit of man 

 to be wholly inadmissible. I believe it to be an 

 axiom in evolutionary science that no creature 

 develops any organ or habit for the benefit of any 

 others, unless it is itself benefited by benefiting 

 the other, as in the case of the ants and the thorny 

 Acacia of Soutli America. The opinion of Mr. 

 Newton as to the situation of tlie organ of memory 

 in the head of the blow-fly seems very daring and 

 entirely unverifiable. — R. S. Patfrk-k. 



S^ 



BOT/INY 



«EI^ 



FIELD BOTANY. 

 CONDUCTED BY JAME!3 SAUNDERS, A.L.S. 



Elecampane in Hampshire. — The New Forest 

 district of Hampshire has been so thoroughly 

 explored by botanists that it is not often one 

 expects to find anything quite new, much less such 

 a handsome and conspicuous plant as Inula Jiele- 

 niuni. I recognised the elecampane in a bunch of 

 wild flowers at the Milford Show in August, and 

 having tracked the young exhibitor with some 

 difBoulty was taken by lier mother to see the 

 growing plant, shorn of its blossoms, but apparently 

 quite wild, in a low-lying meadow in that parish. 

 It is known to grow in many parts of the Isle of 

 Wight, but has hitherto been only once found on 

 the Hampshire mainland, between Alresford and 

 Basingstoke. The plant has a large fleshy root, 

 formerly used in medicine. — J. 'E, Kelsall, Milton. 



Elecampane in Bedfordshike. — In -'Abbott's 

 Flora," 1798, it is recorded for Beds, in "pastures, 

 Kavensden, Stevington : rare." It has recently 

 been found in this county by Mr. C. Crouch in an 

 old piasture at Pullox Hill, apparently native, or at 

 least perfectly naturalised. H. C. Watson found 

 it impracticable to determine in which counties it 

 is indigenous and in which it is an introduced 

 plant. His remark with reference to its occurrence 

 in the Isle of Wight is that " it seemed to be 

 obviously an introduced plant." — J. Sannders. 



The Moss Exchange Club Report. — There is 

 evidence from tlie report for 1901 that good work 

 is still being accomplished by tliis societj' in what 

 is essentially field botany. One advantage that the 

 study of mosses possesses is that they can be 

 collected in every season of the year. Some species 

 are at their best long after tlie summer flowers 

 have gone. We notice that the distributor has issued 

 during this season over three tliousand authorita- 

 tively named specimens, a sufficiently onerous task, 

 and of great value to the students of this group 

 of plants. One noteworthy phase of the report is 

 the prominence given to the Sphagnaceae, the 

 nomenclature of which is evidently up to present 

 date. The important alterations that have recently 

 been made in tire naming of these mosses will 

 render many of the older recjards valueless with 

 reference to the comital distribution of these 

 plants. Tills will give agreeable occupation to 

 enthusiasts on tlie subject. Tliere is apparently a 

 diminution in the interest taken in the Hepaticae, 

 which it is to be hoped is only temporary, as there 

 is still room for original work in that section. We 

 wish tlie '• Moss Exchange Club " continued and 

 increasing success." — J. S. 



Narcissus biflorus. — It is news to one man 

 at least, who is " s'omething of a botanist," but still 

 a little outside the pale, to know- that Narcissus 

 bijtoriis Curtis was ever looked upon as a British 

 plant (o7tfe, p. 12,5). It is an alien, and mentioned 



I 



