BOTANY. 739 
remain nearly indifferent,” was made upon Mr. Darwin’s au- 
thority.—A. G. 
VARIETY IN THE FORM OF FLOWERS IN THE SAME SPECIES.— Dr. 
Hermann Miller of Lippstadt has contributed to a recent number 
of “ Nature” a remarkable paper in which he explains the exist- 
ence of distinct forms and sizes of flowers, and even of distinct 
varieties within the same species, by their adaptation to the needs 
of the insects which are necessary to fertilize them, and which 
vary according to the position in which the plant grows. The 
plants especially brought forward by Dr. Miller as illustrations of 
this law are Lysimachia vulgaris, Rhinanthus Crista-Galli (in- 
cluding the variety or sub-species R. major) and Euphrasia offic- 
inalis. In each of these cases distinct varieties are well-known, 
and have even been distinguished by names, varying chiefly in the 
size and color of the petals, and the relative length of the style 
and stamens. These distinct varieties Dr. Müller states are gen- 
erally found in very different situations, and are visited and fertil- 
ized by totally distinct insects, for which the construction of the 
flower is specially adapted. Those characterized by small pale 
colored flowers grow, as a general rule, in shady situations where 
they are comparatively little visited by insects, and are very 
commonly self-fertilized.— A. W. B 
COMPOSITION OF THE Purr-BALL.—Prof. A. H. Church publishes 
in a recent number of the “London Journal of Botany,” some 
analyses of the giant puff-ball tigooper ‘don giganteum), which re- 
sulted as follows : — 
Composition of Lycoperdon gigant Composition d the Ash. 
When When Aeee ee 4619 
fresh. dry. — na . 3548 
Water, 90 — . » . . 695 
Fat, oi, and i resinous matter, "90 11:0 ae ioe E gs og 2-47 
aii 5-48 66°78 Fon Oxide, š ` š ; 1.08 
Getuioss, ae ingia. ete. a 210 14°78 Silica, 4 è ‘66 
Ash or mineral matter, . “63 T 44 Other substances and loss, Bey T17 
100-00 100-00 100-00 
The noticeable points in these analyses are the very large pro- 
portion of phosphoric acid in the ash, and of albuminoids or 
nitrogenous substances in the fresh plant, the latter accounting 
for the very highly nutritive properties reputed to be possessed by 
the edible fungii— A. W. B. 
NESÆA VERTICILLATA. — Our species of this genus is somewhat 
curious. The flowers are dimorphous— Darwin says trimorphous. 
