"The enclosed is clipped from an English paper, Public Opinion, of June 2, 1883, and " D. W." thinks it may be used in your Gardeners' Monthly:

'Mr. Grant Allen, in his recently published work under this title, briefly sums up his views on the genesis of flower colors as follows: 'Most of the very simplest flowers are yellow. Many of the simple flowers in each family (except the highest) are apt to be yellow. The more advanced members of very simple families are usually white or pink. The simple members of slightly advanced families are usually white or pink. The most advanced members of all families are usually red, purple, or blue. Almost all the members of the most advanced families are purple or blue. The more advanced members of the most advanced families are almost always blue, unless spotted or variegated.' In opposition to the view first enunciated by Goethe, and that now held by almost all botanists and vegetable physiologists, Mr. Grant Allen maintains that the stamens of a flower are not modified petals, but on the contrary, that these last are (as a later formation), modified stamens - a view that will probably receive but few adherents.' "

[We are glad to give the above as a piece of information. It is, however, but right to say that we have read and followed closely Mr. Allen's papers in Nature, and do not regard his ideas as having any fair scientific foundation. We look on them as nothing more than shrewd guesses. - Ed. G. M.]