25 
THE COTTAGE GABDENEB AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Apeil 10, 1860. 
of Juncus subverticillatus when it remains as Juneau Jluitans 
constantly under water are transformed into long stem-leaves. 
Then, again, as remarked by Mr. Keith, some plants which 
are annuals in a cold climate, such as Sweden, become perennials 
in a hot climate, like that of the West Indies. This has been 
exemplified in Tropatolum and Malva arborica. On the other 
hand, some plants which are perennials in hot climates, are re¬ 
duced to annuals when transplanted into a cold region, examples 
being offered in Mignonette, Mirabilis and Ricinus. 
All these results, and many more which might be quoted, are 
no more than illustrations of that power so often bestowed upon 
vegetables and animals to adapt themselves to circumstances. 
That power is always for the purpose of preserving the health, or 
safety, or propagation, of the individual on which it is bestowed ; 
but it effects changes of form and development which increase 
the difficulty of distinguishing species from varieties. 
Those who ridicule the idea of the leaf, the flower, and the 
fruit being only different developments of the same parts, which 
take different forms as the necessities of the plant render them 
desirable, surely forget that the leaf naturally takes such varying 
shapes, as in many instances to have more the appearance of fruit 
than of that usually assumed by foliage. Of this number are 
many of our fleshy-leaved plants ; and the tubular vessel at the 
extremity of the leaf of the Nepenthes distillatoria. In the calyx 
of the Strawberry Spinach ( Bliturn ), and in that of the Mul¬ 
berry, the transformation is still more complete; for here it 
actually changes colour when the flowering is over, becoming the 
edible part of the fruit, and enclosing the seed like a genuine 
berry. 
The difference of colour usually existing between leaves and 
petals is a very unsubstantial distinction. Many flowers are 
altogether green ; many leaves are brilliantly coloured, as those 
of Melampyrum, Amaranthus, Begonia, &c. Then, again, green 
leaves become yellow, red, and brown, in autumn; and M. 
Macaire has shown, that the chromule, or colouring matter of 
leaves and flowers is identical, being only more oxygenised in the 
latter ; and we incline to the opinion that the variegated colour 
in leaves also arises chiefly from those coloured parts being more 
highly oxygenised. 
There are circumstances—there are certain degrees of nourish¬ 
ment, of heat, and of light, though our knowledge is too limited 
to assign them with arithmetical precision, which have a ten¬ 
dency to promote the development of some vegetable organs 
rather than others. Accordingly, as tlioso circumstances prevail, 
we find the pistils increased in number at the expense of the 
stamens, as was observed by Mr. Brown in the case of the Wall- | 
flower, and in the Magnolia fuscata; and by M. Boeper, in the 
Campanula rapunculoides; or the pistils changed into stamens, 
as was noticed by the same botanist in Euphorbia palustris and 
Gentiana campestris ; so the petals have been observed converted 
to calyx in the Ranunculus abortions, and the calyx into petals in 
Primula calycanthema ; petals changed to stamens in the Black 
Currant, and in Capsel'la bursa pastoris; and stamens as well as 
pistils to petals in double flowers. But all those parts of a 
flower have been observed changed into leaves. Nor is this 
matter of surprise, for these are the organs most necessary for 
the well-being of a plant; and when the production of blossom 
fails, it is only because more foliage is required for the elabo¬ 
ration of a superabundant sap. Illustrations of these changes of 
the floral organs into leaves have been observed by M. De Can¬ 
dolle, and others, in a variety of the Gilliflower ( Hesperus Ma- 
tronalis), in varieties of the Anemone, Kanunculus, and Fraxi- 
nella ( D-ictamnus albus) ; in Ranunculus philonotis; Campanula 
rapunculoides, Anemone nemorosa , Erysimum officinale, and 
Scabiosa columbaria. —J. 
(To be continued .) 
MEETING of the ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
The Marcli meeting of the Entomological Society was held on 
the 5th ult. J. W. Douglas, Esq., the President, being in the 
chair. Amongst the donations received since the last Meeting 
were the publications of the Boyal Agricultural Society, the 
Society of Bengal, the Linnsean Society, and Society of Arts ; 
also the Memoirs of the Societe de Physique et d’Histoire Natu- 
relle de Geneve, the “ Zeitung ” of the Entomological Society of 
Stettin, and the first part of a Memoir upon the Diptera of 
Mexico, by Signor Bellardi. 
Mr. Samuel Stevens exhibited a box of exotic Beetles, being a 
portion of the recent collections of Mr. Wallace at Batchian, a 
small island near Borneo. Many of the species were of great 
beauty, and one-third of them at least were new to science. 
Mr. Ianson exhibited various rare species of Beetles collected 
by Mr. Turner at Bannock, in Perthshire, including Pytho 
depressus, Xyloterus domesticus, Bradycellus placidus, Leptusa 
fumida, &o. 
Mr. Dunning exhibited a specimen of the rare Moth, Mamestra 
anceps, taken in the isle of Portland in the autumn. He also 
read a letter from the possessor of the specimen of Sphinx 
Pinastri exhibited at the last meeting of the Society, and in which 
he affirmed that he had taken it himself flying among Fir trees at 
Bomsey, Hants, in the month of June-last. A letter was also 
read from his brot her, who asserted that the specimen in question 
was not among the insect s which he had captured for his brother 
in Switzerland. 
A discussion took place on the best method of labelling speci¬ 
mens, so as to preserve a record of the places and times of 
capture, notices of habits, &c., in connection with the individuals 
themselves. 
Dr. Wallace mentioned the capture, by Mr. Grimstead, of a 
specimen of the very rare Aeosmetia caliginosa in a wood near 
Byde, in the Isle of Wight; the New Forest being the only 
'locality for the species previously known to naturalists. 
A letter was read from Mr. George Wailes on the discovery of 
female specimens of the common Wasp (Vespa vulgaris ), in a 
torpid state under pieces of slate on the summit of Skiddavv, 
from the end of June to the end of August. It was suggested 
either that these females had completed their work in the nest of 
the year and had then gone away to die in such a situation, or 
that, having in the previous autumn taken up their winter 
quarters under these stones, they had not been revived by the 
sun of the following summer. It was also stated that Mr. Wol¬ 
laston had found the Wasps in the same situation in the month 
of September. 
The first portion of an extended work, entitled “ Contributions 
to an Insect Fauna of the Amazon Valley,” by Mr. Bates, was 
read. This Memoir is the result of eleven years’ residence in 
that part of the world, and contained a very careful description 
of the geographical and geological peculiarities of the.Valley in 
question, which was dividible into three great districts—namely, 
the Upper Amazons, the Lower Amazons, and Para. The 
Memoir contained also an account of the various species of the 
restricted genus Papilio which Mr. Bates had met with, and 
which will materially add to our knowledge of that interesting 
group ; as the opposite sexes of many of the species have been 
described as distinct by different lepidopterists, it being quite 
impossible, except by a knowledge of the species on the spot 
where they reside, to decide with any certainty as to the specific 
relationship of many of these so-called species from the great 
differences existing between the two sexes. Some very brilliant 
new species were also described by Mr. Bates. 
THE CANAEY AND THE BRITISH FINCHES. 
(Continued from page 368, Vol. XXIII.) 
Second Division.— FINCHES. 
1.—THE CITEIL FINCH (Fringilla citrinella). 
French, Le Venturon de Provence. German, De Zitronenfink. 
The Citril Finch, or, as it is sometimes called, the Italian 
Canary, although not a native of this country, yet from its being 
very closely allied to the Canary, and as it breeds very freely with 
that bird, so it has been supposed by some writers to have much 
to do with the origin of some of the continental varieties of 
Canaries, that I think a description of it will be acceptable ; but 
as I am not myself acquainted with this variety of Finch, I shall 
translate the following account of it from Dr. J. M. Bechstein’s 
“ Natural History of the Birds of Germany ” (Vol. II., page 241) : 
“ The Citron Siskin, or, as it is commonly called, the Citron 
Finch, is a native of the southern countries of Europe, the whole 
of Italy, Greece, Turkey, Provence, Languedoc, Catalonia; also, 
in Austria, and Aleppo; is found on the Alps, in Switzerland, 
and Tyrol, and, probably, in all parts ol a similar temperature. 
It has also been noticed in France and Voigtland. 
“ In form and colour closely resembling the Canary, except 
that it is rather slighter. It measures 51 inches in length, the 
tail 2i inches, and the wings stretch nearly 8 inches wide. The 
beak is, towards the point and sides, rather compressed, pointed, 
and the under mandible slightly drawn in, above brownish, below 
