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is downward and to tlie left, so that a hee resting on the expanded alse and 
pushing in its head to the left of the coiled-up carina, would come in con- 
tact with the pistil as it darted out of its sheath ; but if the insect went to 
the right of the coil it would escape the pistil altogether. The end of the 
pistil is covered with hairs, and performs the same function as the brush in 
Lathyrus in smearing the hee with pollen. It is, therefore, of great import- 
ance for the cross-fertilization of the plant that the bees should go to the 
left of the coil. As a matter of fact, they all but invariably do go to the 
left ; the very few bees that I have seen going to the right appear dissatis- 
fied and unable to find their way into the corolla. Now, to reach the nectar- 
holes, the insect’s proboscis has to pass down a tunnel formed above by the 
tube of the vexillum, below by the upper surface of the tenth stamen ; the 
entrance into this tunnel is a narrow archway leaning towards the left, i.e. 
having its highest point to the left of the middle point of its base. As 
before stated, the flap almost blocks up the tunnel, so that to get to the 
nectar-holes the proboscis must pass over the top of the flap, and must 
therefore travel along the highest part of the tunnel ; but since at the en- 
trance arch the highest point is to the left, the bee finds it necessary to go 
to the left of the coiled-up carina, to reach the nectar-holes in the easiest 
way. If this view of the function of the flap, when considered in relation 
with the disposition of the pistil, carina, &c., be correct, it adds another 
instance to the long list of mechanisms for insuring the cross-fertilisation of 
flowers by means of the visits of insects. 
A Hollyhock Fungus. — At a meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society 
(Jan. 21), Professor Thiselton Dyer made some remarks on a parasitic fungus, 
which was proving exceedingly destructive to hollyhocks. It has been 
identified by Berkeley in this country, and subsequently by Durieu de Mai- 
sonneuve in France, as Puccinea Malvacearum of Montagne ; it was first 
described from specimens collected in Chili by Bertero. 
Dr. Peg el on Vitis. — u Silliman’s Journal” for February (1874) contains 
a notice on this subject by Professor Asa Gray, which is of interest, as it 
expresses rather a different opinion to that put forward by our own u Gar- 
deners’ Chronicle.” Professor Gray says, the “ Gardeners’ Chronicle ” calls 
attention to Dr. Regel’s bringing forward, as an 11 objection to the Darwinian 
theory, the circumstance that the cultivation of the American vines has 
resulted, in the course of a few score of years, in the production of as great 
an amount of variation as has been obtained in Europe and Asia during 
tens of centuries.” Upon which it may be remarked, 1, that there are in 
North America several species to work with, against the single one cul- 
tivated in Europe and western Asia ; and, 2, that the American varieties in 
question, for the most part, have not been made, but rather selected and 
improved within the last two or three score years. As most youngsters 
here very well know, all our vines vary greatly as to their fruit in the 
wild state. So that nature had long ago begun the work which the cul- 
tivator in this case only accelerates and directs, and gets the credit for. 
American Plants in France. — Dr. Asa Gray states, in “ Silliman’s Journal” 
for February, that Ilysanthes gratioloides, a rather insignificant plant of the 
American flora, has recently been found in abundance in France, in the 
neighbourhood of Nantes. It is thought to have appeared there between 
