NOTES AND NEWS. 6g 



Salvinia natans, when acclimated northward, proves to be a very- 

 acceptable food for crayfish {Cambarus sps.) when the common aquat- 

 ics become reduced in number or quality. — E. L. Morris., Washington, 

 D. C. 



Mr. Charles Louis Pollard has published in the November num- 

 ber of the Botanical Gazette a further revision of the stemless violets 

 of the Eastern States. He enumerates 31 species and a number of 

 varieties, and describes a single new species from Florida. Our com- 

 mon blue violet, which has been known for years under the names of 

 Viola cncullata Alton or V. obliqiia Hill, is given the name of V. 

 comiiiiiiiis, as it is claimed that the descriptions of Alton and Hill do 

 not apply to our species. This paper does much to clear up this diffi- 

 cult genus. 



Reading the article in the November issue of The Plant World, 

 "Further Notes Upon the Growth of Stems After Being Cut," recalls 

 to mind the experience I encountered when preparing an herbarium 

 specimen of the common Cat-tail ( Typha latifolia L.). The plant being 

 from 4 to 5 feet tall, I cut out the central portion of the stem and re- 

 served only about 15 inches of the upper part with its spike of flowers, 

 and a similar length including the root end. After being in the press 

 a few days, I noticed when changing the driers, that the stem con- 

 nected with the root had elongated very perceptibly and extended 

 fully one-half inch beyond the severed ends of the sheathing leaf- 

 bases. As the end had originally been cut off square, it showed un- 

 mistakable evidence that the stem was making a desperate effort to 

 grow, even though its life was being crushed out and all moisture 

 being rapidly removed from it. — Clias. O. Rhodes, Grotoii, N. F. , 

 Nov. //, i8q8. 



The Division of Forestry in the U. S. Department of Agricul- 

 ture issued on November 5th a check list of the forest trees of the 

 United States, by Mr. George B. Sudworth, the dendrologist of the 

 Division. It comprises an enumeration of all the trees indigenous to 

 the United States, 495 in number, with a very full account of their 

 ranges and the common names by which they are known in different 

 parts of the country, and also lists of the varieties distinguished in 

 cultivation. In this list the "designation of 'tree' is applied to all 

 woody plants which produce naturally in their native habitat one main, 

 erect stem bearing a definite crown, no matter what size they attain." 

 It was prepared, we are told in the introduction, in the hope that it 

 may lead to a more stable nomenclature, both of the scientific and 

 vernacular names of our trees. It will undoubtedly prove very 

 valuable. It may be purchased for fifteen cents by applying to the 

 Superintendent of Documents, Union Building, Washington, D. C. 



