372 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



uted of all the lily tribe, and the only one that is really 

 arctic or alpine. Jour. Linnoean iSoc, XIV. 



COPTINE. 



A peculiar principle called coptine has been found by 

 Gross in the Coptis trifolia, or golden-thread, of Europe and 

 America. This is associated in the plant with berberine, 

 but is distinguished by being colorless, and by yielding a 

 crystalline precipitate with potassia-mercuric iodide. 21 A, 

 Sept., 1874, 912. 



CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF PLANTS. 



Our knowledge of the chemical composition of plants used 

 for food has been obtained for the most part from European 

 analyses, which have, indeed, during the past two decades 

 grown to be very numerous and complete. The most val- 

 uable tables of the composition of plants in use with us are 

 of German origin. That these, in some cases at least, are 

 not fully correct for American products is shown by some 

 analyses lately made by Professor Storer. Samples of bog 

 and meadow hay and other plants were found to contain 

 only from 8 to 10 per cent, of moisture, and a sample of tim- 

 othy hay yielded only 7.8 per cent. In the European anal- 

 yses of different kinds of hay, 14 or 15 per cent, is generally 

 given. Why hay in New England should contain only little 

 over half as much water as in Europe is a matter worthy of 

 investigation. 



A BUKIED FOEEST IN ORWELL, ENGLAND. 



Mr. J. E. Taylor, according to Nature, has discovered a bur- 

 ied forest in Orwell, England, represented by a layer of peat 

 containing trunks, leaves, and fruit of the oak, elm, hazel, 

 and fir, associated w T ith the remains of mammoths. Mr. Tay- 

 lor considers this forest to be contemporaneous with others 

 along the coast which existed previous to the depression sepa- 

 rating England from the Continent. 12 A, Oct. 29, 1874, 529. 



DISTRIBUTION OF THE FERNS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



Mr. John H. Redfield publishes in the Bulletin of the Torrey 

 Botanical Club a paper upon the distribution of the ferns of 

 North America, and arranges the species in six geographical 



