THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



71 



the species makers will require a course in entomology as well 

 as in archaeology before they can consider themselves fully 

 equipped. 



White Cypripedium Acaule. — Many times I have won- 

 dered over the absence of any reference to the pure white Cypri- 

 pedium acaule in any botany or book of wildflowers tO' which I 

 have access. I have found the very deep reddish-pink form, 

 the one which is white with pink veinings and slight blush shad- 

 ings, and the pure white one. Is the variation in color due to 

 more or less moisture ? And why is there not a special name at- 

 tached to- the white form ? I have found the latter in the more 

 open sunshine on a knoll or a decayed stump of a tree and the 

 deeper pink form in more shaded places. — Miss Lilian A. Colc^ 

 Union, Maine. [The white form of Cypripedium noted is an 

 albino and as such is not likely to be much affected as to color 

 by any degree of moisture or sunlight. The pink flowers, on 

 the contrary, are likely to be deeper in color in the sunshine. It 

 is the nature of most flowers and fruits to become most highly 

 colored when exposed to the sun. The light itself, has consid- 

 erable to do with developing color. So great is this power that 

 if one will place a photograph negative in contact with the 

 sunny side of an apple just as it is beginning to change color, 

 he will, if the experiment has been properly performed, get a 

 fairly good print on the apple. A negative having strong con- 

 trasts, is of course, best for this purpose. — Ed.] 



