84 Rhodora [APRIL 
a plant which I should not refer here. It is in some points more 
like Æ. ageratoides. Its foliage is light-green, the veins also whitish, 
the serratures of the leaf margin are small, and there is a sprink- 
ling of almost scabrous hairs on both faces of the foliage; but the 
specimen seen by me is not in fruit, so that the character of the 
achenes can not be made out. It is a plant which should be 
investigated. 
The only published description of an Lupatorium to which Æ. 
boreale is somewhat near to answering is that of Poiret's Æ. Fraseri. 
Butthat is to bea plant with a panicled inflorescence, the whole herb 
perfectly glabrous throughout; and its habitat is Carolina. "There 
are other discrepancies also; but the outline and indentation of the 
leaf, as shown in La Marck's fig. 4 of Plate 672, suggests a possibility of 
identity between the two. Yet, upon such crude figures as this, noth- 
ing can, with anything approaching certainty, be established ; and, 
after long hesitation, and careful study, I have thought it best to 
call attention to this northern plant under a new name, rather than 
to call it E. Fraseri with double or triple question marks. 
CarHOLIC. University, Washington, D. C. 
SOME OBSERVATIONS ON ORCHID FRAGRANCE. 
A. LeRoy ANDREWS. 
By no means the least of the factors entering into the great prob- 
lem of cross-fertilization in flowers is the matter of fragrance or other 
odor serving as one means of attracting insects and securing their 
co-operation in the plant's struggle to perpetuate its kind. Singularly 
enough comparatively little scientific attention has been given to this 
important feature, investigations along the line of insect-pollination 
tending rather to the subject of interesting mechanical and chemical 
contrivances, to coloring, nectar-receptacles, honey-guides, etc. 
It is not my purpose here to enter into any considerable discussion 
of the subject, but simply, by way of a suggestion, to note the results 
of careful observations upon our native orchids. ‘The orchid, whose 
sole serious purpose in life seems to be self-perpetuation, presents 
unexcelled opportunities for the study of anything connected with 
cross-fertilization. We may reasonably expect it then to illustrate 
well the various facts of flower-fragrance and its relations to insects. 
