1881. ] On the Fertilization of Calamintha nepeta. It 
races. Is it not possible that there is a basis of truth in the old 
Cherokee tradition? That a party of Spanish explorers—and 
perhaps more than one—penetrated Western Carolina in search 
of gold, silver and other minerals, and, in some instances, finding 
the old mines of the Mound-builders, caused preliminary investi- 
gations of their value, does not seem improbable. In Cherokee 
county are found “ prospect holes” excavated with far greater 
skill than that of savage or barbaric miners.! To what expedition 
these Europeans belonged, is a mystery. That of De Soto, 
according to the course traced out by Bancroft, passed within a 
comparatively short distance of North Carolina—especially the 
south-western corner—as it crossed from the head waters of the 
Savannah or Chattahouchee to those of the Coosa. From it an 
exploring party was sent to the north, which returned disheart- 
ened—without the precious gold—reporting the mountains im- 
passable.” Could the work have been done by stragglers from 
this or other parties, or have there been special expeditions to 
this region of which the historian has lost sight? © 
ON THE FERTILIZATION OF CALAMINTHA 
NEPETA et 
BY WILLIAM TRELEASE. 
Deg the past summer my attention was several times 
drawn to this little plant, in the vicinity of Washington, by 
the large number of insects collected about the flowers, and a 
more careful examination revealed the following facts about the 
species. 
The stem, leaves, calyx and corolla are furnished with a fine 
pubescence, which may prevent small and undesirable insects, like 
ants, from wandering over the plant, for a coating of this sort 
often proves insurmountable to these tiny creatures. In the 
throat of the persistent calyx is a whorl of stiff hairs that may 
serve as a protection for the young corolla and the essential 
organs before they are protruded from the calyx; and after the 
* One of the most remarkable of these is a cimbered shaft 100 feet deep on Valley 
river. See Rept. of Progress Geol. Survey N. C., 1869, p. 
* History of the United States. Bancroft, 13th editior. Vol. 1, pp. 47-48. 
