272 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



We question the suggestion of a coriaceous leaf and spinescence being 

 for a protection against browsing animals. They are merely the responsive 

 result of a dry climate, and occur where no browsing animals live ; as 

 furze in a sandy heath, and especially in hot deserts all over the world ; 

 while the coriaceous Protectees abound on the slopes of Table Mountain. 



Holly often grows to 20 feet in height and has spiny leaves to the 

 summit. Moreover, not only will cows destroy a holly bush, but on the 

 young leaves the spines are flexible, like india-rubber, and afford no pro- 

 tection at all. 



Again, stings of nettles are no protection against caterpillars ; many 

 species live on nettles, and some cows eat them. 



On page 18 (the column for "hooked fruits "), such plants as cleavers, 

 agrimony, avens, &c, are all accidentally omitted. 



In the illustration of the clover-leaf asleep, the terminal leaflet should 

 overlap the lateral and vertical leaflets. It is the last to move and 

 protects them like a roof. 



It is suggested (on page 41) that there is a loss of strength in a 

 sheathing base to a leaf-stalk. We think it is the reverse. In palms, it 

 is composed of strong crossing fibres and completely invests the stem, 

 supplying a leverage to support the massive leaf. Similarly in rhubarb 

 the stipule which sheaths both stem and leaf imitates it. 



The silicious surface of grasses is suggested as a protection against 

 snails, but these little creatures cannot harm grasses so much as horses 

 and cows. 



It ought to have been shown how the " petals " of hellebore and colum- 

 bine are formed out of anthers ; in the petals of buttercups, transitions 

 occur, as in B. auricomus, while those of water-lilies are made of filaments. 



The "conns" in the axils of leaves of figwort growing in shady 

 places might have been mentioned. 



The "disk " of Nuphar, which closely invests the pistil, is omitted. 



Badiola is a true native. It occurs abundantly near St. Ives, Cornwall. 



The "beak" of Geranium is not axial, but composed of the united 

 margins of the carpels, and by breaking away makes the openings on the 

 inner side. 



In Polygala, the spoon-like apex to the style is not the active stigma 

 but the "disk " itself ; the former is the second, abortive, one ; and it is 

 reduced to a mere point in other genera, as Muraltia and Mundia. 



Under Epilobium angustifolium the author might have "generalised " 

 and shown how protogyny, &c, are only relatively constant, varying 

 greatly in flowers under different conditions. (See Buckbean and Daphne.) 



Astrantia major is not recorded from Herefordshire ; only " Ludlow 

 and Malvern " (Hooker). It grows in Stoke Wood, Salop, and only on 

 old Eoman quarries in the above places, hence it was presumably intro- 

 duced from South Europe in the early centuries. 



The above observations and some few others only amount to a very 

 small percentage of the notes, which ought to be a very valuable aid to 

 students, and lead them to study flowers in nature for themselves, and so 

 learn all about their life-history on the spot. Such should soon convince 

 them of the uselessness of being content with the name only, a far too 

 common practice. 



