314 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
our ink manufacturers if it could be acclimatised in Europe. It is known 
under the name of the ink plant. Its juice, called chanchi, can be used in 
writing without any previous preparation. The letters traced with it are of 
a reddish colour at first, but turn to a deep black in a few hours. This 
juice also spoils steel pens less than common ink. The qualities of the 
plant seem to have been discovered under the Spanish administration. Some 
writings, intended for the mother country, were wet through with sea- water 
on the voyage ; while the papers written with common ink were almost 
illegible, those with the juice of that plant were quite unscathed. Orders 
were given in consequence that this vegetable ink was to be used for all 
public documents. 
Yeast and other Ferments . — The “ Journal of the Quekett Club ” for 
April contains a useful paper by Mr. C. A. Watkins on this subject. The 
author rather endeavours to collect the information which exists, and to 
analyse it, than to put forward new ideas. This paper contains a vast 
amount of information, but there is little that pertains to satisfactory 
reasoning in it. 
Ascent of Sap in the Pines . — A curious fact is pointed out by a writer in 
one of the American journals. He says, that some years ago his gardener 
pointed out to him that some Austrian and Scotch pines, which had been 
completely girdled by mice, still continued to grow, as if no such injury 
had been received. In order to test this matter, he took an Austrian pine 
about five feet high, and girdled it for a space of two inches, at about three 
feet from the ground. This was five years ago, and the upper portion is 
still alive. The tree attracts much attention from visitors to his grounds. 
When girdled, the branch was about one and a half inch in diameter. 
The whole portion of stem between the tier of branches above, and that 
below — a space of about fifteen inches — has since remained of that size, and 
is dry and hard as a ^pine knot.” The parts above and below this dead 
space increase annually in girth. The upper portion is now about nine 
inches in circumference. There are branches above and below the girdled 
portion ; the lower ones growing much the stronger. The upper portion 
makes only two or three inches of growth a year, and the “ needles ” are 
of a brighter green than the lower. 
Contrivance in the Corolla of Salvia Involucrata . — In most salvias part 
of the anther develops into a lever, which closes the throat, and, when lifted 
by an insect, causes the pollen to be thrown on its back. Some suppose, 
and with apparent good reason, that this is to aid in cross-fertilisation. In 
Salvia involucrata, according to Mr. Thomas Meehan, who writes to the 
“American Naturalist,’’ the lever arrangements are remarkably well de- 
veloped, but the arched upper lip curves inward, and prevents the anthers 
from acting in the manner above described. It would seem as if the plant, 
after “making” its arrangements for cross-fertilisation, “repented,” and 
u made ” another to contradict it. 
A New Fibre for the Manufacturer . — A new fibre, obtained from the bark 
of the mulberry tree, has been produced by Mr. G-. B. Marasi. It is ex- 
pected that the new material will answer almost all the purposes for which 
hemp and flax are employed. 
New Species of Oaks from North-west America. — Mr. It. Brown, M.A., 
