OBSERVATIONS ON THE HABITS OF NEMOPHILA. By ALICE EASTWOOD. The Nemophila comprised provisionally under the name of Nemophila Menziesii in a previous article 1 are undoubtedly adapted for pollination through the agency of insects. The lines and dots of the petals, the honey glands and protective hairs, and, above all, the arrangement of the essential organs indicate it plainly. In Nemophila insignis and intermedia (?) there are two distinct kinds of plants, those with pistillate flowers only and those whose flowers are all hermaphrodite. This may also be the case in N. atomaria; but so far all plants seen have only hermaphrodite flowers. The hermaphrodite flowers of the group are proterandrous. Soon after the flower expands the stamens begin to discharge their pollen; the stigmas are immature and non-receptive and the two branches of the style are almost side by side as shown in figures A and C, the papillae on the surface of the stigma being undeveloped though perceptible. The stamens are extrorse and discharge the pollen among the hairs of the corolla appendages and of the ovary. The honey glands are quite large and are protected by the surrounding hairs. As the anthers grow old, shrivel and lose their pollen, the branches of the style begin to spread apart and grow longer, even curving downwards as if to reach the insects seeking the honey below at the base of the ovary; the stigmas become bulbous and the papillae which were smooth and round develope almost into tubercles. Figures C and D show the difference between the mature and immature stigmas. In the pistillate flower (fig. B) the opening corolla shows quite a different condition. The stamens are, of course, sterile, mere ghosts of stamens with the outlines of filaments and anthers but without that which gives the anthers life. The pistil, however, is conspicuous, the branches of the style fully ERYTHEA, Vol. III., No. 11 [1 November, 1895]. 1 Supra p. 139. expanded and the stigmas receptive from the first. Figs. E and F show the relative size of the fertile and sterile anthers. The honey glands of the pistillate flowers are somewhat larger than those of the hermaphrodite flowers and the corollas are usually smaller. Wherever a patch of Nemophila insignis is seen the female plants can be easily distinguished by a more robust habit of growth and smaller deep blue flowers. The plants with perfect flowers are more abundant and with their more showy corollas almost banish their specialized companions into obscurity. An investigation of many plants of Nemophila insignis collected when the first fruits were ripe and flowers still present did not show, as expected, that the fruits of the pistillate flowers contained more or larger seeds or indeed any structural superiority. If there is any, the evidence is in favor of the hermaphrodite flowers. An unlooked-for, but easily explained difference, however, became evident. It was found that the pistillate flowers ripened fruit earlier. The reason of this will be understood when it is remembered that the pistillate flowers have receptive stigmas from the first and so get the start of the hermaphrodite flowers. This habit of the plant may have arisen from the necessity for ripening the fruit before the dry season. Nemophila is one of the earliest annuals and without qualities for resisting drought. It comes up early in the spring, flourishes awhile in great profusion and, except in some favored spots, is entirely gone before the hills turn brown. The following table shows the results of the examination of the fruits. Besides the hermaphrodite flowers in the table, a great many were examined that had fruit too young to be sure of the number of seeds. Of these I kept no account. Very few plants with pistillate flowers were found that had not some pods with well formed seeds. Each group of figures enclosed in parentheses represents the number of seeds found in the almost ripe capsules of a single plant, each figure representing a single capsule. PLANTS WITH HERMAPHRODITE FLOWERS. (14, 8) (16) 19) (14, 6, 8, 6) 14) (18, 17) (8) (12, 13, 8, 9, 10) (9, 11, 15) (20, 18, 18, 16, (16, 12) (20, 23, 26) (18, 19) (14, 25, 19, 23, (7) (6) PLANTS WITH PISTILLATE FLOWERS. (13, 14) (10, 9, 6, 10) (19, 16, 13, 22) (14, 13, 21, 16) (8, 7, 11) (3, 4) (8, 6, 5, 6, 3) (7, 9, 9) (9) (7, 9, 8) (3) (10, 6) (13, 5, 9, 11, 12) (13, 8, 10) (15, 16) (22, 20, 19, 17, 16, 17) (14, 18, 20) These tables are interesting as showing the variable number of seeds ripening, and also that the two kinds of plants are equally variable in this respect. EXPLANATION OF PLATE. A. Perfect flower; a, honey gland; b, anther discharging pollen. B. Pistillate flower; a, honey gland; b, anther discharging pollen. C. Immature stigma. D. Receptive stigma. F. Fertile anther. BOTANICAL EXCURSION TO ANTELOPE VALLEY. By Dr. A. DAVIDSON. On the first day of May my companion and I arrived at Lancaster, Los Angeles Co., on a botanical excursion, and early the following morning took our seats in the mail stage for Gorman Station, fifty miles westwards. The district traversed, commonly known as the Antelope Valley, is practically an immense, level, triangular plain bounded by the Tehachapai Mountains on the north and the Sierra |