24 
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 
which lie observed with the aid of a lens had the stigma already 
supplied with pollen ; so that it would appear that, as in Lantana and 
Ribes aureum, the change of tint serves as a guide to insects visiting 
the flower. This is a subject to which the attention of Midland 
botanists could be easily directed and with good results, for we have 
several genera of Boraginese, such as Echium, in which we could 
observe the change ; and it would be worth while also to consider it in 
relation to Grant Allen’s theory of the “ Colours of Flowers,” according 
to which the blue colour is developed for the attraction of certain kinds 
of insects, and not as a beacon to warn them that the flower is no 
longer worth visiting.—See Journ. Boy. Micr. Soc., 188B, p. 864. 
Mounting Hydrozoa, Polyzoa, etc., with Extended Tentacles.— 
Mr. A. D. Michael prefers to use spirits for killing the animals, as osmic 
acid stains too much. They should be got in good condition, placed 
in a watch-glass, and syringed freely, and then placed under a low 
power and watched until the tentacles are well extended. Then with 
a fine pipette run a small drop of spirit down the side of the glass, not 
on the polype. The creature will probably withdraw its tentacles. If 
so, leave it alone until they expand again; without disturbing it run 
another drop down the glass. After doing this once or twice the 
animal gets dull and heavy, drunk in fact, and then spirit may 
be added freely, and the polype mounted. As a medium 
for mounting, spirit and water give very good results, possibly 
the best on the whole ; but Goadby’s solution preserves the 
creatures in more natural form, and keeps the sarcode harder, 
presenting a more life-like appearance, but it is open to the objection 
that it contains corrosive sublimate, which produces a certain 
amount of discoloration of the creature after a time. Another 
objection is that it has a tendency to cast a sediment. For that 
reason it should be used weaker than the book strength, adding about 
three times the quantity of water.—Journ. Quek. Micr. Club, I., 
p. 241 (1883). [Would not these be better mounted in pure spirit, 
like the Leptodora hyalina mounted by Mr. Clarke? See “ Midland 
Naturalist,” 1883, p. 282.] 
“ The Wild Garden.” —“As far as my eye can range it rests only 
on flowers—on beautiful flowers! I am looking as on a tinted map— 
an enamelled picture brilliant with every hue of the prism. Yonder 
is golden yellow, where the Helianthus turns her dial-like face to the 
sun; yonder scarlet, where the Malva rears its red banner. Here is a 
parterre of the purple Monarda; there the Euphorbia sheds its silver 
leaf. Yonder the orange predominates in the showy flower of the 
Asclepias, and beyond the eye roams over the pink blossoms of the 
Cleome. The breeze stirs them ; millions of corollas are waving their 
gaudy standards. The tall stalks of the Helianthus bend and rise in 
long undulations like the amber waves of a cornfield, like billows on a 
golden sea.”—W. Bobinson, F.L.S, 
