NOTES AND COMMENT 



Mr. A. G. Tansley, of Cambridge University, has recently distributed 

 in collected form the papers which he has been contributing to The 

 New Phytologist on the International Phytogeographic Excursion in 

 the United States in the summer of 1913. These papers not only 

 serve as a narrative of the Excursion but also afford a valuable sketch 

 of the vegetation of the localities which it visited. The author speaks 

 enthusiastically of "the overwhelming impressions of American land- 

 scapes and vegetation" which he received. He further states that one 

 of the most vivid impressions he obtained in this country was of the 

 earnestness and single-mindedness of American science. 



Dr. Robert F. Griggs, of Ohio State University, has contributed a 

 paper to the Bulletin of the American Geographical Society (March) 

 on the effects produced by the eruption of the Alaskan volcano of 

 Katmai on the vegetation of the surrounding region. The effect of 

 the covering of ash has varied with its thickness and with the gradient 

 of the slopes on which it fell. Trees were heavily loaded but have 

 survived, alders in the near vicinity of the volcano suffered the loss of 

 their leaves and young buds, and the herbaceous vegetation of bogs 

 and tundra was completely covered, so that these areas now resemble 

 sand plains and are in a condition such as to make their revegetation 

 a slow process. 



The papers submitted in competition for the prizes offered by The 

 Plant World, and announced in the April issue, will be judged by 

 the following men: Dr. H. C. Cowles, Dr. B. M. Duggar, Prof. B. E. 

 Livingston, Dr. D. T. MacDougal, Dr. J. B. Overton, Prof. G. J. 

 Peirce, and Dr. H. M. Richards. 



Macmillan and Company announce that they have in press, as one 

 of their series of Science Monographs, a volume on The Mutation 

 Factor in Evolution; with Particular Reference to Oenothera, by Dr. 

 Reginald R. Gates. 



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