SHORT NOTE 
221 
SHORT NOTE. 
Nectar Secretion in the Hyacinth. In view of the contra¬ 
dictory statements of various botanical writers, it seems desirable to 
call attention to one or two facts in regard to the floral biology of 
the common Hyacinth (Hyacinth us orient alls L.). To an} r one who 
has carefullv studied the dower, the following statement—in Groom’s 
j Elementary Botany, ed. xvi. 169; 1920 — is rather surprising: — 
“ Apparently no honey [sfc] is excreted; probably long-tongued 
insects stab the desty parts of the perianth and suck the juice.” 
Christian K. Sprengel, as far back as 1793, stated in his classic 
work ( Des entdecide Geheimiss de Natur , etc.) that the dowers are 
nectariferous and that nectar is secreted by three glands on the upper 
part of the ovary. Hermann Muller, however, wrote ( Fertilization 
of Flowers, Engl, transl. 1883, 554) that he had been unable to 
detect any nectar secretion :—“ No free honey [szc] is secreted, but 
the wall of the perianth is deshv and succulent, and is probably bored 
by long-tongued insect-visitors.” Groom does not seem to have 
devoted any special attention to the dower, and his statement is 
apparently merely repetition of Muller’s remarks. C. Warnstorf, in 
Schr. Natw. Ver. Weingerode, xi. 1896, states that nectar is secreted 
by the upper portion of the ovary in three furrows alternating with 
the sutural grooves of the carpels. Careful examination of the 
flowers fully condrms Warnstorf’s observations, and also substantiates 
Sprengel’s earlier statement; there is a fairly copious exudation of 
nectar, which forms three large globules in the intra-sutural regions a 
little below the insertion of the stvle. If a dower is taken at the 
XJ 
right stage, a circular incision made around the base of the perianth 
tube, and the perianth carefully removed—taking the precaution not to 
rub or squeeze the ovary—this is verv obvious.—A. A. Hallman. 
I x> XJ 
REVIEWS. 
The Primulas of Europe. By John Macwatt, M.B. xvi + 208pp., 
cr. 8vo, with 41 illustrations (from photographs) and 8 coloured 
plates. London : ‘ Country Life,’ Ltd. 12s. 6d. net. 
There has been for some time an opening for a comprehensive 
monograph of the genus Primula, so interesting to the critical 
botanist on account of the large number of species comprised in it 
and their extremely-perplexing relationships, so attractive to the 
horticulturist owing to the great beauty of the dowers of most of its 
species. Even the dne work of Pax and Knuth (1905), though 
excellent in its day and as far as it went, is no longer adequate; for 
scores of new species have been discovered and described since it 
appeared. 
When the issue of the present work was announced recently, 
there seemed a chance that it might meet, to a limited extent, the 
requirement indicated. Unfortunately its appearance destroys all 
such hope, for there is little in it that will satisfy the careful 
botanist. True, the reader will dnd in it, under each of the thirty 
species or thereabout treated, extensive synonymic lists, elaborate 
statements of specidc characters, numerous specific “ keys,” and the 
like ; but these are largely copied, word for word, as is acknowledged 
