66 



perfect, living flower modeled in wax by nature's own hand, and 

 so delicate that after a few days it withers away in blackness. 



I sometimes wonder what European folk-lore would have 

 done with my pow-wow pipe had it smouldered in her realm. 

 Someone has proposed the name "Pipe of Henry Hudson's crew" 

 for it. Dead man's finger and corpse plant are unfit names for it 

 and seem to have been given to it by those utterly devoid of fancy 

 or reason. 



SOME ABNORMAL FLOWERS. 

 By J. L. Sheldon. 



Several specimens of roses were brought into the laboratory 

 last spring as curiosities, on account of the abnormal development 

 of the flowers. It was learned afterwards that they were rather 

 common on a few bushes about town. Instead of the usual man- 

 ner of blossoming, a second bud grew up out of the center of the 

 flowers and finally opened like the first. The second flower was 

 complete, as far as calyx and petals were concerned. A shoot is 

 sometimes produced from the center of a flower instead of a bud, 

 and instances might be mentioned where a bunch of flowers were 

 also produced at the end of the shoot. 



The "twinning" of peaches was also very common the past 

 year. In some cases scarcely a single peach could be found on 

 some trees, and as many as three or four were often found grown 

 together, usually only one ripened, however, the extra ones 

 "blasting" and falling off. 



In an English work by Masters, which is becoming rare, 

 there are good illustrations and descriptions of the abnormal de- 

 velopment of the various parts of plants. One who is interested 

 in this sort of thing can usually find plenty of examples without 

 much trouble. The common double china pinks often show a 

 succession of two or more blossoms in the same calyx. One blos- 

 som has hardly passed by before another crowds into its place. 



