223 
Botany at the American Association for the Advancement of 
Science.—(Am. Nat. xx., 886; Bot. Gazette, xi, pp. 221- 
229.) 
Bracts in Crucifere.—Thomas Meehan. (Proc. Phil. Acad. Nat. 
Sci., 1886, p. 60.) Alyssum (Koniga) maritimum is cited 
as an exception to the general rule that the flowers of Cru- 
ciferee are bractless. 
Certain Chemical Constituents of Plants considered in relation to 
their Morphology and Evolution—Helen C. De S. Abbott. 
(Bot. Gazette, xi., p. 270.) 
This paper advocates the use of chemical analysis as a factor 
in classification, and adduces some interesting examples of simi- 
larity between the morphological and chemical characteristics of 
several groups of plants. 
Desmodium molle, DC. John Donnell Smith. (Bot. Gazette, xi., 
P. 274.) 
This name should be dropped from the catalogue, as the plant 
proves to be D. tortuosum, DC. 
Dodecatheon—Essay toward a Revision of. Asa Gray. (Bot. 
Gazette, xi. p. 231.) 
Forests of Canada. R. Bell. (Canad. Rec. Sci., ii) 
Formation of Crow’s Nest Branches in the Cherry Tree.—Thomas 
Meehan. (Proc. Phil. Acad. Nat. Sci., 1886, pp. 273, 274.) 
The garden cherry has long been naturalized near Philadel- 
phia, and Mr. Meehan had noticed this curious fasciation of the 
branches on three of these wild trees. He had made the inter- 
esting discovery that the fasciation is simply the growth to weak 
branches of what would normally be flower bearing shoots, the 
leaves being destroyed in spring by the fungus Exoascus Wilsneri, 
a European form closely allied to £. deformans, the species causing 
the “curl” in peach leaves. 
Charles Christopher Frost. Wm. R. Dudley. (Journ. Mycol., 
ii., pp. 114-118.) 
An interesting sketch of the life of one of the pioneers in 
American cryptogamic botany. 
John Goldie, gardener and botanist. (Bot. Gazette, xi., p. 272.) 
The discoverer of Aspidium Goldieanum died June last in 
Canada West. 
