Page:Natural History Review (1861).djvu/109

Rh the borders of the lake are a few mosses, lichens, grasses, and sedges; and where the broken, weathered pitch becomes looser, are found Clusia, Chrysobalanus, Anona palustris, Bromeliaceæ, Ferns, &c. A catalogue is given of the genera, both of Phanerogams and Cryptogams, which have been observed by the author in the island.

—Remarks on the Final Causes of the Sexuality of Plants, with particular reference to Mr. Darwin's Work on the Origin of Species. Oxford, 1860. 8vo. 34 pages. With 1 plate.

—The Botanist's Guide to the Counties of Aberdeen, Banff, and Kincardine. Aberdeen, 1860. 1 vol. 8vo. 344 pages.

A few observations on the physical features, and a summary of the physical and geological structure of the counties, by Alexander Cruikshank, are prefixed to the list of species. The altitudinal range of the species, and the stations of the less common ones, are given.

—Recherches physiologiques, anatomiques, et organogeniques sur la Colocase des Anciens Ann. Sc. Nat. Bot. Ser. iv., tom, xii., pp. 232–79. With 4 plates.

The author's observations bear special reference to the remarkable phenomenon of the secretion of water by the minute orifices at the extremity of the leaves. M. Berthelot, at the author's request, analyzed the excreted water, and found it almost absolutely pure; faint traces, only, of chloride of potassium, carbonate of lime, and organic mucilage, were perceptible. M. Duchartre regards the emission of fluid to be directly due to diminished transpiration of the leaves: that transpiration and aqueous excretion stand in inverse ratio to each other, though at the same time they are but different manifestations of the same physiological phenomenon. The author's anatomical investigations were directed mainly to the system of canals in the sub-marginal nerve-like thickening of the leaves, and to the orifices terminating them, by which the water finds an exit. Examination of the development and structure of the excretory orifices shows them to be greatly altered and enlarged stomata. Minute observations are appended on the development and rate of expansion of the leaf.

Note sur deux Fleurs monstrueuses de Cattleya Forbesii, Lindl—Bull. Soc. Bot. de France, tom, vii., p. 257.

In one of these flowers the segments of the perianth were reduced to five, the labellum and one of the lateral sepals being united by their margins into a single large segment, the halves of which were distinctly separated, as it were, by a longitudinal thick stripe of bright yellow colour. Each of the united segments retained its characteristic colour, texture, and position; but while the sepal retained its normal breadth, the labellum to which it was united acquired but half its dimensions. Owing to this reduction of the labellum, the unaltered column was entirely laid bare. The two petals were but slightly altered, the most remarkable feature being, that the one next to the monstrous labellum had contracted a close union with the lower half of the column in the direction of its median line. Both retained their normal position. In the upper flower of the