MONSTROSITIES. 
91 
drawings of the ergot before the assembly of Naturalists, at 
Florence (1841), in which the grains at the point had sprouted 
out into three leaves ; an additional reason in favour of the 
ergot being only a monstrosity. It still remains to be ascer- 
tained, whether the excresence only occurs on the scutellum. 
The fungus which Quekett has very well described, is an 
Oidium. It is well that we can get rid of such an abomina- 
ble term as Ergotmtia^ badly formed as it is from the Greek 
and the French. The observations on the different modes of 
propagation are very interesting ; it is a question, however, 
whether they are not the result of an optical illusion. 
SECRETION. 
Observations on the Phenomena of Water Drops on the 
Leaves of some Plants, by Rainer Graf, Flora, 1840, p. 433. 
The author principally instituted his observations on the 
Impatiens nolitangere. These drops may be observed in the 
cotyledons, and that always at the small teeth, in which the 
nerves of the leaf terminate, which run through the centre of 
the leaf. Small drops even make their appearance in the 
primordial leaves, whilst they are still folded together in the 
bud, they occur at the edge in all places, which subsequently 
become crenated. As soon as the leaves of the plant have 
attained their full development, the drops appear on the cre- 
natures, which have been formed by the tendril, and by the 
secondary nerves in the leaves. The still undeveloped leaves 
of all succeeding buds, are also covered with drops in the 
same way as the primordial leaves. A small drop appeared 
regularly at the point of each of the calyx leaves, until the 
capsule began to swell, also on the point of the bractese, and, 
finally, also on the flowers. They appear here at the middle 
tooth of the upper arched petal, and at the point of the lower 
valve-like calcareate petal. The drops are largest on the 
cotyledons, those on the leaves follow next ; and there they 
are always larger at the points of the tendrils than at the 
points of the secondary nerves. The drops, which in other 
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