238 THE NATURE STUDY REVIEW [1, 5. sept. 1905 



the rivers' banks or in the marshes. When the woods were cleared 

 away, the conditions were not favorable to .the woodland species and 

 they disappeared ; but in their stead were found the weeds introduced 

 from Great Britain and Europe, where for centuries they have been 

 growing in field, in hedgerow, and along the roadside. These, find- 

 ing suitable conditions, have multiplied with great rapidity in Canada. 

 — Ottazva Naturalist. 



The Light-Perceiving Organs of Plants. A German botanist, Pro- 

 fessor Haberlandt, has recently published a book on this subject. It 

 is well known that many leaves can place themselves at right angles 

 to the light rays which strike them. The problems of this book are 

 concerned with the explanation of how the leaves turn and curve to 

 get into the proper position with relation to light. First, Haberlandt 

 shows, by covering leaves with opaque paper, that the leaf-blade is 

 most sensitive to light, and next comes the leaf-stalk. In the epider- 

 mis covering the upper surface of the leaf, Haberlandt finds the pecu- 

 liar cells which he considers light-perceiving organs. He compares 

 them with the single eyes of certain backboneless animals, and cer- 

 tainly the lens-shaped structures do suggest " eyes." A striking ex- 

 periment with nasturtium leaves showed that the natural waxy leaves, 

 which are unwettable, will change position, when light falls obliquely, 

 but after washing off the wax with weak alcohol (said not to injure 

 the leaves, but one feels doubtful) the leaves do not turn. This sug- 

 gested to the author the interesting theory that the waxy " bloom " 

 and " velvety " of leaves saves them from being " blinded " by rain. 

 Of course, all such pioneer work requires more study before it can 

 be regarded as established science. Some American botanists have 

 expressed their skepticism concerning these statements. 



Game Protection. The well-known leader in the national move- 

 ment for the protection of game animals, Mr. G. O. Shields, has 

 started a new monthly magazine. Shields' Magazine, which will be 

 "devoted to game protection, nature-study [popular], and all legiti- 

 mate indoor and outdoor sports." The editor proposes to continue 

 the work of securing better laws and their enforcement against the 

 butchers of game animals. It will be the official organ of the League 

 of American Sportsmen, of which Mr. Shields is the founder and 

 president. The magazine takes the place of Recreation, which Mr. 

 Shields founded and conducted until last January, when bankruptcy 

 proceedings (said by Mr. Shields to have been instigated by enemies 

 made by his stand for game protection) forced the magazine into the 

 hands of another editor and publisher. Shields' Magazine will, obvi- 

 ously, be the new series of the old Recreation as we have known it 

 for years. We wish it success in the fight for protection of our game 

 animals against the butchers who hunt " out of season " and with the 

 barbarous modern rapid-fire guns. 



