226 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



always went in pairs, sometimes there being only one 

 pair in tube of corolla, at other times five or six pairs, 

 while the third kind was of a more solitary nature, 

 going alone. 



Out of two hundred plants examined (this is an 

 average) forty-two flowers of P. vulgaris had insects 

 in them, while in P. vert's only twenty had, and the 

 flowers were found much in the same districts as in 

 the other disease I spoke of. 



Only in one case in each did I find a worm, which 

 was of a greyish-green colour, with a black head, out 

 of all I examined during the season. 



My sketch about the above has been so poor, and 

 my remarks very uninteresting, I am afraid, that 

 what I have to say on anomalies will be but brief and 

 just as I found them, with but few remarks on them, 

 as in some cases I think explanation is needed from 

 others, by others better acquainted with them than 

 myself. 



The following is a list of anomalies found, or at 

 least the main ones : — 



P. vulgaris, pin-eyed ; one stamen was developing 

 itself into a petal. 



P. vulgaris, pin-eyed ; in tube of corolla the 

 stamens were smaller than usual, being only J or J 

 size of stamens of this family generally, and the 

 anthers were white, and no pollen on them. The 

 flower in appearance was about f inch in diameter, 

 and apparently very healthy. 



P. vulgaris, pin-eyed ; a style branched into two 

 from pistil (Fig. 131), also stigma was wanting, and 

 what appeared like a stigma was a flattening and 

 swelling of the style (Fig. 130). 



P. vulgaris, thrum-eyed ; two similar malforma- 

 tions. 



P. veris, two thrum-eyed ; no stigmas, and one 

 with no stamens. 



P. veris, thrum-eyed ; in two flowerets, on head 

 of five or six ; the number of stamens was six. 



P. vulgaris, pin-eyed ; four petals only. 



P. veris, having five flowerets ; two were thrum- 

 eyed ; three pin-eyed. The pin-eyed were not 

 diseased, the thrum-eyed were. 



P. veris, thrum-eyed. This flower was one of the 

 most extraordinary I ever came across ; it had six 

 sepals, eight petals, nine stamens, and style and 

 stigma very short. No other flowers on the same 

 plant were deformed, and there were about six more. 

 In this same flower one of the stamens was formed 

 abnormally ; it had first of all a piece of the tube 

 raised and curled, as it were, into a stem, and then 

 from this stem it had itself grown out. I could not 

 draw it on paper plain enough to be understood, or 

 I would do so. 



P. vulgaris, thrum-eyed. I noticed what appeared 

 to be a secondary growth out of each of its petals of 

 the same colour as the petals, Fig. 132, a, a, a. 



Very often I have found no stigmas or styles or 

 stamens at all in both. 



P. vulgaris, pin-eyed j five sepals, six petals, six 

 stamens. 



P. vulgaris, with all its parts in sixes. 



P. vulgaris, thrum-eyed ; four stamens, ditto none. 



P. vulgaris, pin-eyed ; four stamens. 



These are the principal out of a large number noted ; 

 there were several minor points which I thought not 

 worth mentioning in this paper, but 1 1 hope that 

 others may be persuaded to carry on these investi- 

 gations, and to tell us more next year about this 

 subject. 



My haunts for investigating the above flowers were 

 in the counties of Yorkshire, Cheshire, Shropshire, 

 Co. Down and Antrim (Ireland), and in different 

 districts in these counties, and not confined to one 

 part in particular. The only remark I have to make 

 is that not any P. veris were got in Ireland at all. 



J. H. Barbour. 



THE SHELLS OF STOURPORT. 

 By Joseph W. Williams. 



STOURPORT is a small town, of some four 

 thousand inhabitants, situate in Worcestershire, 

 four miles from Kidderminster and twelve from the 

 county capital. The vicinage is picturesque and 

 chiefly of the true rural type, well-wooded and well- 

 watered ; the geological formation is largely that of 

 the New Red Sandstone, which rises into wooded 

 heights in every direction ; the rivers are the Severn 

 and the Stour, while of still water may be mentioned, 

 among many others, Hillditch Pool, Stinton Pool, 

 Rush Pool, Bishop's Pool, Wildon Pool, and the 

 Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, with its 

 several basins in the town. Few, if any, conchologists 

 visit the locality and it was practically unworked 

 until I gave it my attention ; I hope, however, that 

 the publication of this list will be the means of 

 bringing its richness to the notice of any workers 

 who may be within a sufficient distance to give 

 Stourport and its vicinity the attention it evidently 

 deserves, and thus do much towards rendering our 

 knowledge of its molluscan fauna more complete than 

 my limited time has permitted me to accomplish. 

 My visits have been once a year, averaging about 

 a month in each summer, and it is only during the 

 past four years that I have given any attention to the 

 conchology of the locality and that more or less 

 intermittingly. The list below is taken from my 

 notes extending over those years. I, however, pub- 

 lished a preliminary list in the "Journal of Concho- 

 logy" (vol vi. pp. m-114); the present communi- 

 cation must be considered as an extension of that, 

 and, in some sense, a revision. Throughout I have 

 used the new nomenclature ; but, in the event of some 

 of my readers not being familiar with the new nomen- 

 clature, I have, where any change of name has been 

 made, indicated the old within brackets. 



