Palaeontologie. — Pflanzenkrankheiten. — Floristik etc. 219 



Dawson, Rhacopteris Busseana Stur, "fern" Aphlebiae: Cyclopteris 

 varia Dawson, C. Brownii Dawson, and Rhisoniorpha lichenoides 

 Pteridosperm fructifications: Sporangites acwninata Dawson, and 

 Pterisperniostrohus hifurcatus gen. et sp. nov. Whittleseya Daw- 

 soniana D. White, W. concinna Matthews, Dicranophyllum glabnini 

 Dawson, Cordaites Robbii Dawson, C. principalis Germar, Poacordai- 

 tes sp., Dadoxylon Ouangondianum Dawson, Sternhergia sp., Cordai- 

 anthiis devonicus Dawson, Cardiocarpon cornututn Dawson, C. obli- 

 qimm, Dawson, C. ovale, Dawson, C. BaileyiDsLWson, C. Crampii Hdrtt. 



A list, with notes, is given of ihose species which have been 

 recorded froni St. John but which are considered not to be really 

 established. 



It is concluded that the Fern Ledges represent plant debris 

 from differing ecological situations which were all growing in that 

 period of time in the Goal Measures which is best known as the 

 Westphalian, and that probably it corresponds in point of time 

 most nearly to the lowest zone of the middle Westphalian. The 

 specific identit}' between so many of the planis from Europe and 

 Ganada is regarded as a point of great interest in relation to the 

 geographical distribution of the forms. 



As regards the composition of the flora, a point immediately 

 noticeable is the scarcity of Sigillaria and Lepidodendron. This is all 

 the more remarkable because in some beds Ca/^w/V^s-remains are 

 common, so that all members of the "swamp-fiora" are not absent. 

 There is also a scarcity of Sphenophyllum ^ another of the typical 

 swamp-growing forms of the Goal Measures, and it is taken that 

 the flora is not a typical mixed one of the Goal Measures but one 

 principally growing on dry land. The beds of Calaniites alternating 

 with others of mixed debris indicate that there were groves of Ca 

 lamites growing as an almost "pure formation" just as modern 

 Eqnisetum does to-day. The absence of Mariopteris is remarkable 

 in a flora containing so many other typical Westphalian "ferns". 



W. B. Turrill (Kew). 



Ewart, A. J., On Bitter Pit and Sensitivity to Poisons. 

 3rd Paper. (Proc. Roy. Soc. Victoria. XXVI. 2. p. 226—242. 1 pl.) 



In the first part of this paper, which is in continuance of his 

 former articles, the author gives the result of some experiments 

 comparing potatoes with apples with regard to their sensitivity to 

 poisons. In all cases potatoes were found to be less sensitive than 

 apples. 



The author goes on to critise the results obtained by Rothera 

 and Green wood, tending to show that bitter pit tissue contains 

 no poison capable of inhibiting diastatic action. In the presence of 

 tanic acid starch is precipitated in a form which is very resistant 

 to diastase, and moreover in_such a case a small quantity of starch 

 may not be detected by the iodine test. It is suggested that the 

 results obtained are due to these facts having been overlooked. 



An exhaustive analysis of the mineral constituents of bitter pit 

 tissue is required. E. M. Wakefield (Kew). 



Brand, A., Hydrophyllaceae. (Engler's Pflanzenreich. LIX. 

 210 pp. Fig. im Texte. Leipzig, W. Engelmann. 1913.) 



Die starke Behaarung, fast allen Hydrophyllaceen eigen, findet 



