2 14 The Ohio Naturalist. [Vol. II, No. 4, 



that ' ' it necessitated a modificatiou of the characters of Circaea ' ' ; 

 it matches a specimen received by Dr. Torrey, from Agardh, col- 

 lected in Scania, Sweden, and named C. intermedia, but the true 

 C. intermedia Ehrh., from Central Europe is evidently different." 

 //(?;;/ II. The Botanical Gazette gives a brief notice of a paper 

 by Bernard, printed in Comptes Rendus, which is of such interest 

 as to warrant reproduction here. " Bernard makes the surprising 

 statement that it is his belief that the tubers of the potato are 

 essentially galls and due to fungus infection. He shows that 

 Fusariiiin solani is always present in the tubers, and it seems 

 likely that this fungus causes the arrest of the terminal bud and 

 the development of hypertrophied tissues, which become filled 

 with starch. The author's experiments, while not yet conclu- 

 sive, strongly support his theoretical conclusions, since a decided 

 parallelism is seen to exist between the amount of tuber forma- 

 tion and the development of the fungus. However, no cultures 

 entirely free from fungus have yet been made. Bernard notes 

 that when the potato was introduced into France, tubers could 

 not be produced from seed cultures, presumably because Fiisarium 

 solaiii did not then infest the so^l." 



MEETING OF THE BIOLOGICAL CLUB. 



Orton Hall, January 6th, 1902. 



The Club was called to order b}' the president and the minutes of 

 the previous meeting were read and approved. The first paper was 

 by Prof. Osborn who gave an account of the Chicago meeting of 

 the Am. Society of Naturalists. 



Mr. Coberley followed with some observations on the winter 

 foliage of plants growing near Georgesville, O. He mentioned a 

 number of plants which retain their foliage through the winter. 

 In discussing this paper Prof. Schaifner spoke of the moth mul- 

 lein, Verbascum blattaria L., as being w^ell protected for the win- 

 ter. Its leaves contain anthocyanin and also exhibit a strong 

 geotropic curvature. 



Mr. Bridwell next read a paper on insect pollination of flowers. 

 Insects belonging to the groups Diptera, Hynieuoptera and 

 Lepidoptera are the most frequent agents of pollination. 



tender the head of personal observations, Prof. Prosser gave a 

 report of his explorations in Nebraska and also of the summer's 

 work on the conglomerate in northern Ohio. This rock is ex- 

 posed at Nelson Ledges and farther north at Thompson's Ledge 

 and Little Mountain. A large block was brought down and 

 placed near the dri\e north of Orton Hall. 



Messrs. O. L. Ivckman, A. P. I<:aston, R. L. Hyde and F. M. 

 Surface were elected members. The Club then adjourned. 



F. J. Tyler, Secretary. 



Pages 193 to 214 issued Feb. 22, 1902. 



