118 Ohio Naturalist. [Vol. 1, No. 7 



NEWS AND NOTES. 



The Summer Field Meeting of the Ohio State Academy of Science 

 will be held at Wooster, Ohio, on Friday and Saturday, May 31 and 

 June 1, 1901, under the auspices of the University of Wooster, the 

 Ohio Experiment Station and the Wooster Field Naturalist's Club. 

 The plan includes Friday about the small lakes soutiiwest of 

 Wooster, and an evening meeting in Wooster; Saturday morning at 

 the Experiment Station, to be followed by an excursion to North 

 Lawrence with its mines and Fox Lake with its tamarack bog. 



Prof. Charles S. Prosser in an article in the Am. Jour, of Sci. 

 11:191-199, 1901, discusses the names applied to the formations of tlie 

 Ohio Coal-measures. The following names are proposed. 



Present Names. Proposed Names. 



Upper Barren Coal Measures Dunkard formation 



Upper Productive Coal Measures Monongahela foi'mation 



Lower Barren Coal Measures Conemaugh formation 



Lower Productive Coal Measures Allegheny formation 



The Philadelphia Fleabaue (Erigeron philadelphicus L.) is one 

 of our interesting spring plants and will repay careful study, The 

 leaves of the stem in most individuals have a decided polarity and 

 for the most part are twisted so as to stand in a single plarie. In this 

 respect the plant is as striking as any of the so-called compass plants, 

 although the plane in which the leaves lie may be in any direction. 

 Another interesting adaptation is the drooping of the top of the 

 young plant. The entire inflorescence nods at first and finally the 

 individual heads, but one by one these assume the upright position 

 as the flowers begin to open. 



J. H. S. 



Winter Adaptation of Opuntia. — The Ohio species of cactus, 

 Opuntia humifusa Raf., has an interesting habit which seems to be 

 a protective measure against cold. At the approach of Winter the 

 flattened stems lose their upriglit position and press themselves 

 closely to the surface of the ground. 



The stems lose considerable of their moisture at the same time, 

 becoming wrinkled but not at all flaccid. By the end of April they 

 are again upright and distended. 



F. J. T: 



