bristles attached to such filamentous diatoms as Chatoceros, Bacteriastrum, etc. These genera are furnished with siliceous bristles distributed symmetrically round the frustules and often branched, and the diagrams which Mr. Grenfell exhibited in illustration of his paper bore a close resemblance to the figures of these "bristly" forms given in many books. The principal difference seems to lie in the fact that the supposed "pseudopodia" of Melosira and Cyclotella were non-siliceous and were destroyed by boiling in acid, whilst the bristles of the marine genera mentioned above, are siliceous and indestructible by heat and acids. But this difference is not unnatural when it is remembered that even the frustules of the Melosire were only very sparingly siliceous. It is perfectly natural to expect that the greater amount of silica present in the frustules of the marine forms, should be accompanied by the presence of silica in the processes attached to them. Whatever be the ultimate conclusions arrived at with regard to the nature of the supposed pseudopodia, Mr. Grenfell's discovery is extremely interesting, and not the least important feature consists in the fact that the processes, although invisible in water, were at once seen when the diatoms were dried. Microscopists will do well to search the streams and ponds in various parts of the country, and to carefully examine the various species of Melosira and Cyclotella, with a view of confirming or disproving Mr. Grenfell's belief that diatoms furnished with these processes are common and generally distributed.

CLEANING SLIDES.-In answer to the enquiry by H. Verinder at page 238, I write to say that I have found that by placing the "spoiled microscope slides " in a strong solution of caustic potash for a day or so the varnish, balsam, etc., etc., can readily be removed and rendered fit for use again. I use a common earthenware receptacle for the purpose, and before attempting to wash off the varnish, etc., cr to clean the slides I transfer them to a basin containing hot water, so as to get rid of the caustic potash, otherwise the fingers might suffer.-W. M. Young.

CLEANING VARNISH.-I usually boil the slides in an old saucepan in water containing a small lump of common washing-soda. This removes the balsam and asphalt very readily. It is advisable not to put too much soda, as otherwise the solution may act on the glass. For the same reason care should be taken that the slips remain always immersed; if any of the liquid should dry on them, the surface will become

permanently clouded over. When the slides have boiled for about a quarter of an hour, wash in water and wipe dry.-G. H. Bryan.

NEW SLIDES.-Mr. Fred. Enock's "mounts" are always microscopical gems, to be awarded the best and securest place in the cabinet. The last Mr. Enock has sent out is an object of this characterthe head of the six-eyed spider (Dysdera erythrina). The ring of six closely set eyes gleams like a ring of noble opals. From Mr. A. Flatters, of Oldham, we have received another consignment of his wonderfully neat botanical slides of transverse and longitudinal structures. These are accompanied by neatly drawn sketches, pointing out the details, so that both slides and sketches ingeniously combine to render the botanical student as much service as possible in the shortest time.

BOTANY.

FLORA OF KENT.-To K. E. Styan's notes on the local flora of Kent I have collected a few additional plants, which I think will be useful to his list. In the woods about Otford and Shoreham, Cephalanthera grandiflora grows rather abundant, with Listera ovata and Orchis maculata; in the beech woods near Shoreham, Monotropa hypopithys grows plentiful; on the chalky pastures about the hills, Calamintha acinos, and Calamintha clinopodium, sometimes in company, but less frequent with Nepeta cataria and Campanula glomerata; about streams, Scrophularia aquatica and Verbena officinalis; in corn-fields Galeopsis ladanum and Verbascum nigrum, with Ballota nigra, which grows about hedge-banks, and road sides; on the hill, Ononis arvensis and Carduus acaulis are very common. Two butterflies which I saw very plentiful about there was the dark green fritillary, and the marbled white.-Henry E. Griset.

FLORAL GUIDE TO KENT.-In answer to M. B. Wigan (p. 238) M. H. Cowell's "Guide to East Kent, etc.," was published at Faversham, and by Pamplin at Wandsworth, 1839. But the only way to obtain a copy now, is through the second-hand booksellers. Let him try Dulau and Co., 37 Soho Square, W. They had a copy in 1889, or Wheldon, Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn.-Arthur Bennett.

AN OLD EXPERIMENT IN PRESERVING QUICKLY FADING FLOWERS.-On the evening of June 21st last, I received from a friend a freshly opened specimen of the night-blooming Cereus (Cactus grandiflorus) and it still remains open, a thing of beauty, with its calyx, corolla, and stamens distinct from each other. As this flower invariably opens in the evening and fades by the following morning, few persons ever get to see it when fully opened. The method of preserving it simply consists in immersing the flower in water and excluding the air. I took a propagat

ing-glass and a dish of rather larger diameter than the glass, and having tied a small weight to the stem or frond of the flower to keep it in position, I plunged the flower, glass, and dish, into a large tub of water, and while in the water placed the flower on the dish and inverted the propagating-glass over it, carefully excluding air bubbles, then lifted all out of the water together. During all this time I have only changed the water once. This was at the end of the second week, when the dissolved yellow colouring-matter obscured the view.-Edward Shackleton, Whitworth.

MR. STYAN'S ROSE.-The rose referred to by K. E. Styan, in SCIENCE-GOSSIP of this month, (page 236), appears to be Rosa spinosissima, the Scotch or Burnet rose (syn. R. pimpinellifolia). It differs materially from the commoner forms of R. canina, in being much more crowded with prickles, the leaves having nine leaflets, and the remarkable development of the hips. The sketch given by your correspondent is correct as regards size and shape, but the position should be reversed, for by the curvature of the petiole the hip does not grow erect, but pendent with the persistent sepals downwards. I have a fine garden specimen of this rose, which is sold by the dealers under the name of Rosa rugosa alba, with white flowers, and a variety with purplish red flowers distinguished as R. rugosa rubra.-J. W. Fisher.

EXTRAORDINARY GROWTH OF "WILD ROSE HIPS."-The figure and description of an abnormal wild rose hip in your last number agrees exactly with the fruit of the Japanese rose: Rosa rugosa. From the description of the flower and the fact that the plant was growing in a garden, I strongly suspect that the plant belonged to this species, and was not a wild rose at all. If Mr. K. E. Styan will send me his address, I will gladly forward him fruits and leaves of R. rugosa for comparison; it is fruiting very freely this year.-R. Scott.

ROSE-HIPS. Surely the Rose-hips mentioned by your correspondent K. E. Styan in SCIENCEGOSSIP for last month are nothing more than the hips of Rosa rugosa, which is remarkable for the clusters of large round hips which it bears. I have not seen the fruit of this rose for some years, but as far as I can remember the figure given with this letter is exactly like them. The description of the flower, "a very large, single, and either white or very pale pink,'

,"corresponds with the blossoms of R. rugosa. The foliage is not mentioned: that of the R. rugosa is very different to that of our wild roses, the veins being much indented below the surface of the leaf. The bunches of hips when ripe are very beautiful objects ; it is a pity this rose is not oftener cultivated than it is.-G. S. S.

NOTES ON THE FLORA OF BRAUNTON BURROWs.I have found Matthiola sinuata growing in conjunction

with Statice, not on the Burrows themselves, but on a piece of rocky coast north of the Burrows. Erodium maritimum, as well as E. acutarium, grows in the neighbourhood.-G. H. Bryan.

HOLLY FERN IN HEREFORDSHIRE.-It is over twenty years since my mother found plants of the holly shield-fern in a lane in Herefordshire. This autumn, being in the same neighbourhood, we revisited the locality, and again found one or two plants, which Professor Hillhouse and another botanical friend affirm to be genuine lonchitis. They were growing in a grassy and ferny bank by the side of a country lane-a place quite out of character with the usual habitats of the fern. I enclose a couple of small fronds of the fern, which, I think, will be found to possess all the characteristics of Aspidium lonchitis. The plants appeared to be less plentiful than formerly. -G. H. Bryan.

GEOLOGY.

THE GEOLOGY OF THE LAKE DISTRICT.-The undermentioned process may prove interesting to some of your readers, and may be confidently recommended in similar cases to all young students of geology just before they are about to embark on an "original theory." Being in the Lake District, in that part where, according to the savants, what they call the eruptive rocks of lower Silurian age, alias the green slates and porphyries of Borrowdale, are exposed, I determined to form a really scientific acquaintance with the ultimate principles, so to speak, of the stuff whereof all the highest mountains in England are composed. Repairing to a fresh wrought quarry I selected as clean, unaltered, and decent-looking a piece of rock as I could see, and with the aid of a workman's big sledger I smashed the rock into as fine a powder as could well be under the circumstances, and wrapping it in paper I put it in my pocket. Happening to have with me a small box of chemical reagents, etc., and purchasing a bottle of strong hydrochloric acid from a local apothecary, the process was begun. The particles of the rock were first reduced to a very fine powder in an agate mortar and no great exertion was required to effect this. In fact, it was rather surprising how easily this was done, and how very different the stuff appeared thereafter; in the original bed it was a rather dark bluish grey, but now it seemed almost quite white. Some of the acid was poured upon the powder, and after gently heating for some time, the whole mess was evaporated to dryness; a few drops of acid poured on the residue and then some hot water, the mixture stirred up, and filtered. The quantity of solid matter left on the filter gave a rough idea of the amount of silica in the original rock, in this case say about sixty per cent. The filtrate con. tained the bases, and in order to separate and detect

It

these a slight excess of ammonia was added, when a very considerable precipitate of alumina and iron was thrown down. It may be observed that the figures mentioned here are those derived from a strict quantitative analysis, and not merely guessed from the rough investigation now described. Here then we had separated those two very important constituents of the rock, and the amount thereof, say nearly fifteen per cent. of the former and nearly eight per cent. of the latter, seemed as seen, as it were, for the first time very astonishing, and even still more so when, after boiling the washed precipitate in strong solution of caustic potash, the iron was left in a quantity much larger than what could have been anticipated. The ammoniacal filtrate from these two constituents contained the rest of the bases in the rock. On adding thereto a solution of oxalate of ammonium, lo and behold! an immense and bulky precipitate of lime was immediately produced. represented about six per cent. by weight, so that this indeed was the "surprise of the day," and the feeling culminated to the acme when, after detecting small quantities of magnesia and potass in the residuary solution, the big authorities on the subject were consulted. For it would appear, what is in truth a highly interesting fact, that the various constituents of this Borrowdale series differ very considerably as regards the amount of lime contained therein respectively. The rock just analysed contained six per cent. in the form of carbonate (the brisk effervescence on adding the acid showed this), and it was a specimen of lava ash (pyroxene-porphyrite of the savants) perhaps physically altered, although it looked not so; but the quartz-felsite, which seems widely extended at intervals throughout the series, contains only a little over two per cent., and the Skiddaw slate and granite, which bounds the series to the north and west, has only about one and a half per cent. Wherefore this difference in the proportion of lime? The speculators of the school of Lyell aver that these green slates were deposited in the sea whence it derived its calcareous intermixture; and the mathematical surveyors of the district assume that a colossal dome of limestone originally extended over the greater part or perhaps the whole of these eruptive rocks, perhaps even to the highest summits of the mountains. A comparison of the analytical results aforesaid at once disposes of the former hypothesis; and the dip or angle whereon the latter calculation is based would carry the stuff so very high that my imagination is quite undisposed to follow it. -P. Q. Keegan.

NOTES AND QUERIES.

THE COMMON SNAKE.-I have in my possession a very fine living female specimen of Tropidonotus natrix, which I purchased in the spring. Some months ago she cast her slough, and emerged in all the

splendour of a fine new coat. Lately she has become very sluggish, and used to remain in the branches of a small tree for days together. I could not account for this sleepiness, for her eye had no appearance of the cloudiness visible whenever they commence to change their skins. However, the reason has now become apparent, for within the last few days she has presented me with ten eggs. In colour they are a dirty white, and the outer covering, which closely resembles the membrane lying immediately beneath the shell of a bird's egg, is quite soft. The first two were discovered on the roth ult., in different parts of the cage, these I removed because a violet ground-beetle, who also shares the case, had commenced to demolish one of them with evident relish, and on the 12th I discovered five more. Three of these last lay together, but the rest, which were laid on the three following nights, were scattered about over the cage. They were not connected in any way with each other. I mention this fact because it seems to be contrary to the observations of others, notably, the Rev. J. G. Wood, who states that the eggs of the grass-snake are deposited in chains, each egg joined to its neighbour by a glutinous substance; again, G. Christopher Davies in "The Swan and her Crew," who describes them as connected together by means of a sort of glue. I should like to know whether it is common for grass-snakes to deposit their eggs without the chain in question. Perhaps some of your readers have met with similar instances. I was very anxious to hatch these eggs, and placed one of them, by way of experiment, in the sun, covered with some dry leaves. However, a small portion of the egg received the direct rays of the sun, with the result that it was drawn up into a boil, and all around the albumen was coagulated.A. E. Peake.

THE FLORA OF A CART-TRACK.-When walking on the Downs to-day between Seaford and Eastbourne, I noticed a cart-track leading from a farm across the turf of the Downs to some pits from which flints were probably obtained. I had been noticing the characteristic flora of the Downs here: Euphrasia officinalis, Phyteuma orbiculare, Campanula glomerata, Gentiana amarella, etc., and was much interested to find that along the two ruts formed by the wheels of the cart, an entirely different set of flowers grew, standing out in sharp contrast to the compact and diminutive natives of the Downs. Those in the ruts were: Cerastium triviale, Agrimonia eupatoria, Achillea millefolium, Matricaria chamomilla, Echinum vulgare, Bartsia odontites, Anagallis arvensis, Polygonum aviculare. All of these are common weeds of waste or cultivated ground, and their seeds had probably been brought on to the downs in the mud adhering to the cartwheels.-Rina Scott.

ALBINISM IN PLANTS.-It may interest those of your contributors who have been making notes of the occurrence of albinism in plants to know that last month, being at Largs, in Fifeshire, I saw a fine white variety of Centaurea scabiosa. At one part of the Bents there was a fine display of the beautiful reddish-purple flowers of this handsome plant, and amongst them there occurred one root with pure white flowers.-J. Carphin.

HUGE PUFF-BALLS.-Having a very unusually large Puff-ball (Lycoperdon giganteum) lately come up in a gap in a laurel hedge here, I think it might interest the readers of SCIENCE-GOSSIP. It is still firm and white, though slightly turning colour from the continued heavy rain; it measures 36 inches in circum

ference, and 34 starting from base round the top to root. Again, there are two more near it, one almost entirely eaten by slugs before coming up; the other, at present young, measures only 16 inches by 16. I noticed in SCIENCE-GOSSIP a number or two back mention of bats flying in the sunshine. Before seeing your paragraph I myself had noted the same thing, and thought it uncommon; first, in January or early February, in spite of the cold, one was flitting in the bright sunshine outside our fence at about half-past ten A.M. Again, just as we were looking for the swallows (late this year) I noted two flitting about merrily for an hour or two before noon, and for the first minute thought they must be the long looked-for swallows come at last. The enclosed are, as you will see, a curious form of monstrosity in an everlasting, and some little shells, the latter taken from the gizzard of some snipe shot about 27th January, having just arrived at some ponds near here. Could you tell me if they are brackwater shells?-R. Moxon, Surrey.

AN ANCIENT EARTHQUAKE.-Could any of your readers give me any information on the following? In Camden's "Britannia" of 1610 there is a map of Herefordshire by Christopher Paxton, and near Woolhope I find marked "Kynnaston chapwhich was dreuen doune by ye remoueng of ye ground," and in the description of the county Camden tells us: "Neere unto the place where Lug and Wy meet togither eastward, a hill, which they call Marcley Hill in the yeere of our redemption 1571 (as though it had wakened upon a sodaine out of a deepe sleepe) roused itselfe up, and for the space of three daies togither mooving and shewing itself (as mighte and huge an heape as it was) with waving noise in a fearful sort, and overturning all things that stood in the way, advanced itselfe forward to the wondrous astonishment of the beholders by that kinde of earthquake, which as I deeme naturall philosophers call Brasmatias." Old Drayton in his 66 Polyolbion " " refers to it also:

"B ut Marcely, grieu'd that he (the neerest of the rest
And of the mountain kind), not bidden, was a guest
Unto this nuptiall Feast, so hardly it doth take
As (meaning for the same his station to forsake),
Inraged and mad with griefe, himselfe in two did viue
The trees and hedges neere, before him up doth driue,
And dropping headlong doune, three daies together fall,
Which, bellowing as he went, the rockes did so appall,
That they him passage made who Coats and Chappels crusht
So violentlie he into his valley rusht."

Selden, in his notes to the first edition, 1613, says, referring to this: " Alluding to a prodigious division of Marcely Hill in an earthquake of late times, which most of all was in these parts of the island." Can any of your readers inform me whether anything is now to be seen at Marcely Hill of the effects of this earthquake mentioned by Camden, Drayton and Selden.-Henry James, Merthyr Tydfil.

DOUBLE PLUM.-I enclose a sketch of a curious double plum, which you may perhaps find of interest to you. Also the two stones and the fruit-stalk. It was given to me by a friend, and was grown in his garden at Hounslow. The plum was of a purple colour, with a pellucid greenish flesh, and the two stones were close together, the spaces being filled with "gum." You will observe that they fit into one another in some sort of a fashion. The reverse side to that represented in the sketch was similar, as far as I could see, in all respects, except that the suture was not quite so deep. The sketch is natural size.-T. Alfred Dymes.

NATURAL HISTORY OF SLOW-WORMS.-It may be interesting to some of your readers to hear that three days ago one of several slow-worms I have in my possession presented me with a family, the number of which I do not yet know. Is not this very late in the year? Professor Bell gives June or July as the usual time for the bearing young. The most interesting fact about it is that the young slow-worms have been not only born, but bred in captivity, for I have had the old ones in my possession for about eight months; the usual period of incubation is from six to eight weeks.-H. D. Tilly.

RINGED SNAKE.-Since writing to you on September 17th my snake (female specimen of Tropidonotus natrix) has died, and as it was a very fine one, and it is, I believe, rather unusual for a snake to lay eggs in captivity, I thought it might interest some of your readers to hear something of its anatomy. Up to September 15th it had laid ten eggs, all of which were separate. On the 27th it seemed very unwell, and died in the afternoon. The tenacity of life exhibited by the muscles was extraordinary, for although the head and anterior extremity of the body were stiff and dead, the rest twisted and moved about for several hours whenever a stimulus was applied. I must say I fail to understand why the muscle-plasma should coagulate so slowly in the case of a snake or slow-worm, and yet so quickly in man and the higher animals. Entire length of snake, two feet eleven inches, including the tail, six inches. When the skin was stretched upon a board it measured three feet two inches without the tail at all. It is a curious fact that the membrane which in most other animals is split and serves them as eyelids should remain intact in a snake. The difference in habits of the snake and slow-worm is not very great. Both crawl along the ground and are subject to the same inconveniences in regard to sight, such as dust, etc., and yet the slow-worm has a split membrane, and the snake has not. Doubtless this fact serves very well to distinguish the snakes from the lizards, when to all appearance they would seem to belong to one class, but I should like to know what explanation is offered to account for this peculiarity in structure. It cannot be indicative of a very low form of life, for in the class of Batrachians next below them in the scale we find very well-developed eyelids. The tongue of this snake measured 4 inches. Of this 2 inches was ensheathed and black, whilst the remainder consisted of a bundle of muscular fibres. Two thin rods of cartilage, presumably representing the hyoid bone, ran, one on either side of this muscular part, and they, together with the tongue, were fastened to the trachea by a small muscle. left lung only was present, although the trachea divided as usual into right and left bronchi. The interior of the lung was sac-like, and resembled in appearance the linked armour which was formerly worn by knights in battle. The liver measured eight inches. The ovaries, two in number, contained in all 113 ova. Of these twelve were perfectly developed, and resembled those already laid. of these fully-developed ova had passed down the oviduct to within a couple of inches of the cloaca, and was larger than any of the others. The oviduct around it was much inflamed and injected with blood, and I suppose this was the cause of death. In the tissue between the intestine and oviduct was a quantity of white coagulated substance, which I imagine to be the remains of an ovum which in some inexplicable manner had escaped from its proper channel. There was nothing peculiar in the other organs. I was much surprised at the very slight development of the

The

One

brain, which was certainly smaller than that of a frog.-A. E. Peake.

THE WHITE FLOWER QUESTION.-In view of the undoubted importance of variation as an aid to the study of the developmental history of plants, it is gratifying to see so much attention being directed to the subject. Henslow, in his "Origin of Floral Structures says: "To attempt any theoretical exposition of the evolutionary history of flowers considerable caution is required, for the causes of variation are generally so obscure, the chances of seeing them in activity so small, and experimental methods of verification well-nigh impossible, that speculations on the subject cannot altogether escape the bounds of hypothesis so as to become demonstrable facts." Notwithstanding this, we find him at a later stage declaring that "variation in the number of parts of the floral whorls is largely due to an excess or a deficiency of nutriment," and that "colours are a result of nutrition," He further says, "The paler tints, or even a total absence of colour may seemingly occur as a variety of any plant; it is often a concomitant of habitual self-fertilisation in cases where the variety of species is a degradation from some conspicuous and brightly-coloured insect-visited form. White-flowered individuals often appear as 'sports' among seedlings, the immediate cause of which it would be difficult to assign, beyond the general one of the absence of those nutritive conditions which are requisite for colours." Here, then, we have a theory of colour, whether or not it will stand the test of experiment is a different matter, but if temperature and the character of the soil affect the forms of flowers, why may they not also affect their colours? Grant Allen glances at the subject in his "Origin of the Colours of Flowers," but he has no better explanation to offer of reversion in a red or a blue flower to white than the tendency to reversion that exists in all forms of plant-life, especially such as have been recently evolved. Thus, writing of reversion in the wild hyacinth, he says: "The frequent recurrence of white varieties in our wild hyacinth proves that it is still far from having completely adapted itself to its present level of development, as thoroughly wellestablished and ancient species do not throw back so easily or so often to less advanced ancestral forms," a view of reversion which accords with that expressed by Darwin in his "Origin of Species” (6th edition, P. 121). These statements suggest one or two points to which, as it seems to us, attention may profitably be directed. (1.) Is it the case that when flowers change from one colour to another it is in an unvarying order, from yellow to white, from white to red, and finally to blue?-reversions, of course, in inverse order. (2.) If this is so, why is it that blue flowers-the wild hyacinth, for instance-revert directly to white instead of to red, the colour from which they have more recently been evolved? (3.) Is it the case that lessened vegetative vigour tends to check the development of colour, and if so, to what extent does the check operate? If I am not greatly mistaken, there are numbers who would warmly welcome authoritative answers to these questions. This season I have carefully noted the occurrence of white varieties, and as the list may be of interest to others, I append it for comparison. The district embraced in my observations is the north-west portion of the border county of Dumfriesshire, which has a varying elevation of from 250 to 1600 feet. Viola palustris, Viola tricolor, Polygala vulgaris, Epilobium montana, Scabious succisa, Campanula rotundifolia, Erica cinerea, Calluna vulgaris, Gentiana campestris, Veronica scutellata, Euphrasia officinalis,

Pedicularis sylvatica, Ajuga reptans, Prunella vulgaris, Symphytum officinale, Orchis mascula, Hyacinthus nonscriptus.-John Corrie.

THE WHITE FLOWER QUESTION.-In connection with the correspondence on this subject, it may be interesting to mention that a few weeks ago at Malvern Wells, I found a quantity of Bartsia odontites growing by the roadside leading up from the Midland station. A large proportion of the plants had pure white flowers, while of the remainder a great many had flowers of a pale pink colour, a great deal lighter than usual. This was not a case of an isolated albino, as the white flowers predominated. Near Cambridge on the Hills road, Geranium pyrenaicum grows abundantly in one spot, but the flowers are invariably white. I have never seen lilac specimens in Cambridgeshire. The same remark applies to the comfrey, Symphytum officinale, which is always white-flowered about Cambridge. I have found albinos of Ononis arvensis (rest-harrow) year after year in the same spot by the road leading from Cambridge to Newton." Also solitary white specimens of Cichorium intybus, and Centaurea scabiosa. Two years ago I found white Gentiana campestris at Fort Augustus, while at some height above the Lake of Como, in 1878, I found Gentiana acaulis with some flowers of a pure white and others of a pale "Cambridge blue," forming a striking contrast to the usual dark "Oxford blue" hue of the flowers.G. H. Bryan.

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THE WHITE FLOWER QUESTION.-Now that Mr. P. Q. Keegan has evinced an interest in this subject, I begin to hope for some workable information. his queries in last month's number, I subjoin the following:-The heather is in full bloom in this neighbourhood, from the early part of August to the close of September, white varieties included. The atmosphere of this county, undoubtedly contains a deal of moisture; and it is certainly as indisputable that with certain winds, the atmosphere is also highly charged with saline substances. Perhaps it will be only fair to add, while this question is being discussed, that the flowers of the white heather which I have pressed this summer, have turned to a delicate pink in the drying process. The colour, I noticed, asserted its presence in about forty-eight hours after the plants were placed in the press. Of course it is not near so pronounced as the normal tints of the heather.Fred. H. Davey, Ponsanooth, Perran-ar-worthal.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

now

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