422 
POPULAR SCIENCE REYIEW. 
nitrogen and more phosplioric acid than when ripe; that is^ it will be 
poorer in amylaceous matter and m gluten. It may therefore be admitted 
that if, as indeed is the case, a certain loss is experienced by the falling out 
of the grain from the ears in reaping corn arrived at maturity, this is amply 
compensated by an increase of weight and nutritious matter.” 
Mr. Darwin's recent Researches. — Mr. Darwin has sent us two pamphlets, 
reprints from the Linncean Society's Journal, which show that he is con- 
tinually adding to the vast store of botanical facts recorded in his work on 
Animals and Plants under Domestication. These memoirs are of too 
great length, and embrace too many important details, to admit of our giving 
a satisfactory abstract of them here. We therefore briefly record some of 
the conclusions of their author, and refer our readers to the Linncean Society's 
Journal (Botany, vol. x.) for further information. In one of the papers — 
On the speciflc Difference between Primula veris, P. vulgaris, and P. elatior, 
and on the hybrid ISTature of the common Oxlip ” — Mr. Darwin proves, as we 
think satisfactorily, that the three flrst forms are speciflcally distinct, and 
that the oxlip is merely a hybrid. The results of the different crossing ” 
experiments are so lucidly tabulated, that the evidence in favour of the 
author’s opinion may be seen at a glance. Mr. Darwin regards the oxlip 
as a hybrid between the cowslip (P. veris, Brit. FI.) and the primrose (P. 
vulgaris, Brit. FL), as has been surmised by various botanists. He thinks it 
probable that the oxlips may be produced either from the cowslip or the 
primrose as seed-bearer, but oftenest from the latter, as he judges from the 
nature of the stations in which oxlips are generally found, and from the 
primrose, when crossed by the cowslip, being more fertile than the cowslip 
by the primrose. Mr. Darwin also demonstrates the specificity of Primida 
elatior. The title of Mr. Darwin’s second memoir is sufficient to indicate the 
mass of valuable facts the paper contains, and the painstaking and laborious 
inquiries which have been undertaken by the author. Itis^^On the Cha- 
racter and hybrid-like Nature of the Offspring from the illegitimate Unions 
of dimorphic and trimorphic Plants.” The plants dealt with here are Lyihrum 
Salicaria, Oxalis rosea, Primida sinensis, P. auricula, P. vulgaris, P. veris, and 
Pulmonaria. The general conclusion which the author draws is one of the 
highest interest, for it in part solves one of the most serious objections (that 
of the sterility of species) raised against the theory of the origin of species 
by natural selection. This conclusion is^ partially expressed in saying that 
the illegitimate offspring from an illegitimate union are hybrids formed within the 
limits of one and the same species. In proof of the importance of recognising 
the infertility existing between certain sexual forms of dimorphic and tri- 
morphic plants, Mr. Darwin says : — If any one were to cross two varieties 
of the same form of Lythrum or Primula, for the sake of ascertaining whe- 
ther they were specifically distinct, and he found that they and their off- 
spring were extremely sterile, and that they resembled in a whole series of 
relations crossed species and their hybrid offspring, he would maintain that 
his varieties had been proved to be good and true species ; but he would be 
completely deceived." 
A new Disease of the Vine. — In a memoir presented to the French Academy 
of Sciences, on August 3, M. Bazille calls attention to a new disease which 
has attacked the vine in many of the French provinces, and which appears 
likely to prove more destructive to the crop than even the famous oidium 
