« 
754 General Notes. [ December, 
executed and quite equal to those in Part I., although none of the spe- 
cies in the present number are as picturesque as Aquilegia Canadensis 
L., previously figured. The plates of the loosestrife and the arrow- 
leaved violet seem to us to be most successful as far as the accuracy of 
the representation is concerned. The most beautiful plate is that of the 
iris, which could be surpassed only by nature itself, for, in the species of 
this beautiful genus, such is the delicate shading of the colors and the 
exquisite translucence of the standards and the stigmas that art, at the 
best, must fall a little short of nature. With regard to the figure of 
Carex Pennsylvanica which accompanies the Viola sagittata we would 
suggest that its botanical value would have been enhanced had a matured 
spike also been figured. The descriptive text is shorter than that in 
Part I., but in Viola sagittata and Iris Virginica Professor Goodale 
has found material for some very interesting remarks on cleistogamous 
flowers and insect fertilization. In the present fasciculus the plates are 
not stitched but folded in the cover. In this connection we must express . 
the hope that the publishers will give the public the opportunity of pur- 
chasing extra copies of some of the plates for framing, as we can think 
of no more appropriate ornaments for a school-room or lecture hall than 
the beautiful plates of this series. — W. G. FARLOW. 
GENERAL NOTES. 
BOTANY.: 
FertILIZATION or FLowers sy Brrps. — From recent mention of 
this subject in Mr. Darwin’s new work, and in a review of it by Dr. 
Gray in the American Journal of Science, and two notes in Nature, I 
conclude that but few instances are known in which birds visit flowers. 
In the United States Dr, Gray names honeysuckles and trumpet creeper, 
in addition to Impatiens, which Darwin gives on authority of others. 
The ruby-throated humming-bird is common in this State and is fre- 
quently seen about our flower beds and in the green-house. I have 
n seen it visiting lilacs, phlox Drummondii, perennial phlox, portu- 
. . ™. væ 5 E 
as, petunias, morning-glories, roses, honeysuckles, snapdragons, | 
fuchsias, and I think many other species of which I have made no note. 
Several of the above were given me also by the gardener, Mr. Cassidy. — * : 
He also had noticed that the birds came in through the ventilators of the 
greenhouse in spring to visit the fughsias, of which tliey seem very fond, 
but after spring flowers appear their visits afe less common. Again 
they frequent the flowers in the greenhouse in times of dry weather. I r ; 
have not made as many notes on this subject as I now wish I had, but 1 
am quite sure it will turn out that they visit a large number of species 
of our wild and cultivated flowers. They visit them with much greater 
rapidity than is common with the honey-bee. — W. J. BEAL. T 
1 Conducted by Pror. G. L. GOODALE. 
