THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
.277 
From blue flowers. 
Anemone coronaria L. 
Anagal-lis coerulea 
Sclireb 
Borago officinalis L. 
Auchusa italica Retz 
Echium calvcinum 
Yiv. 
Salvia clandestina L. 
Yitex agnus castus L. 
Romulea ramiflora Ten 
From red flowers. 
Adonis microcarpa d.c. 
Papaver dubium L. 
From yellow 
flowers. 
Ranunculus bullatusL. 
Brassica campestris L. 
Chrysanthemum coro- 
narium L. 
From purple, rose, 
OR LJXAC FLOWERS, 
Papaver setigerum'D.G. 
, Enarthrocarpus ptero- 
carpus Pers. 
Cakile maritima Scop. 
Matthiola ineana Bv. 
Frankenia hirsuta L. 
.. pulverulenta L. j 
Silene bipartita Desf. 
S] »ergularia rubra Pers. 
Malta sylvestris L. 
- nicaensis L. 
» parviflqra L. 
Geranium molleL. 
• Robertianum L. 
Erodium cicutaiium 
L’Her. 
- moschatiun 
L’Her. 
Hedysarum coron arium 
L. 
■> capitatum Desf. 
Trifolium resupinatum 
L. 
Vicia sativa L. 
Rubus fruticosus L. 
Epilobium tetragonum 
L. 
Asperula longifiora W. 
K. 
Centranthus calcitrapa 
Dufr. 
Fedia cornucopia G. 
Scabiosa maritima L. 
Carduus pycnocephal us 
L. 
Erica multiflora L. 
Anthirrinum majus L. 
Rosmarinus officin al is 
L. 
Lamium am ] ilex i caule 
L. 
Mentha pulegium L. 
Orchis saccata Ten 
- lactea Pocr 
Anacamptis pyramida- 
lis Rich. 
Gladiolus segetum Ten 
Scilla sicula Ten 
Colchicum Bertolonii 
Stev. 
Nowin some cases I have seen . on the same 
plant or on different specimens the gradual fading 
of the normal colour into white, and generally I 
have seen that all blue flowers before attaining the 
white colour pass first into, purple or rose; not 
that the same flower first becomes rose and then 
white, but that sometimes the decolorating causes 
are not eneugh to turn into white the blue colour, 
and hence the rose appearance of the flower. 
In both Adonis and Papaver I have also, met 
with intermediate forms with orange flowers, 
whilst many of the corollas of flowers, of the pur- 
plish series like Matthiola, Anthirrinum, Papaver, 
exactly as under cultivation, presented themselves 
streaked, sometimes with a predominance, of their 
original colour, some other with variegations on 
a white ground. 
It might be as well noted that in all the colour 
variations I have seen I have not met with any 
aberration in the ascending order of colours, but 
the change has always been from blue to rose or 
to white, from purple or'red to white, but never 
from white to rose or yellow or blue, or from rose 
10 blue. The only exceptions I know of among 
our flowers are the var. rubiflora Gtiss of Vulne- 
raria heUrophylla and the occasional deeper shade 
of some purple or purplish corollas such as {Erica;- 
Rubus, Lathyrus, Silene , ecc. which calls to our 
mind again that purple as a colour of transition, is 
one that offers great unstableness. 
Exploration of the Black Sea. 
In a communication to the Odessa Society of 
Naturalists, published in its ‘Memoirs’’ (vol. xvi;. 
fasc- 2), Dr. Ostroumoff gives a preliminary report 
on the fauna of the Black Sea, based on the explo- 
rations which were carried on last summer on 
board the war-sloops Donets and Zapnrojets , and 
the schooner Kazbek. The researches of the. 
expedition confirm the hypothesis of Edward 
Forbes, according to which the Black Sea. 
was formerly a part of, a wide brackish Ar’al- 
Caspian basin, which became connected at . a. 
recent epoch with the Mediterranean. The salt- 
water Mediterranean species must have, penetrated ■ 
into the Black Sea since that time, spreadingTrom 
the west, and compelling the previous fresh-water 
and brackish -water inhabitants of the sea to retreat 
to the mouths of the rivers. . The explorations: also 
confirmed, the remarkable' fact of the total absence . 
of animal life at depths exceeding 100 fathoms. • 
Samples of mud. from greater depths, when ‘exam- 
ined under the microscope, proved to contain no 
traces whatever of living organisms, They only. 
