NOTES AND COMMENT 



At the annual session of the Iowa Academy of Science a paper 

 was presented by L. A. Kenoyer on a floral variation which had been 

 discovered in Saxifraga texana. Instead of exhibiting the usual bi- 

 carpellate condition of the genus some 1800 flowers were.fomid to be 

 predominantly tricarpellate, with 17% fluctuatmg around that con- 

 dition. The phenomenon is not quite so striking as it would be if 

 we knew somethmg about the variation of the same species m other 

 localities, nevertheless such behavior on the part of any plant is very 

 interestmg and is well worthy of the fullest investigation. It is almost 

 impossible for a keen student to make a sound observation or to per- 

 form a well-conceived experiment without securmg results which are 

 interesting, but everyone who has attended a scientific meeting or 

 followed botanical literature knows how few of these results are made 

 valuable by havmg enough thought and energy put into them after 

 they are first featured on the screen of publicity. 



The Third International Congress of Tropical Agriculture recently 

 held at London was attended by over four hundred men, representing 

 forty-two nationalities or colonies. The key note of the meeting 

 was the need of providmg better facilities for education and research 

 along the lines of tropical agriculture. 



Announcement has been made of the publication of the third German 

 edition of Jost's Lectures on Plant Physiology. The entire book 

 has been revised and brought up to date, especially with respect to 

 the subjects of hybridisation and breeding. 



We learn from the Ziiricher Zeitung that Dr. Eduard Riibel has 

 given the sum of 25,000 francs to the Swiss Natural History Society, 

 as the nucleus of a fund for the advancement of plant geography in 

 Switzerland. 



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