NOTES AND NEWS. 43 



pollinated exceed that of the unpollinated gynaeclums. In 

 one pair of experiments with Carina very curiously the oppo- 

 site was true, that is, the unpollinated material respired more 

 actively than the pollinated. — W. A. C. 



Miss F.'N. Magowan, of the University of California, 

 presents the results of some experiments upon the toxic ef- 

 fects of soil salts, in the Botanical Gazette for January, 1908, 

 in which it was found that sodium, potassium, magnesium, 

 and calcium are poisonous. The methods used were based 

 upon determinations of the highest concentration of each 

 salt in which the plant could live for extended periods. 



Dr. B. E. Livingston, member of the staff of the Desert 

 Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, has been 

 given leave of absence for one year, which will be spent in 

 the prosecution of research work in soil physics and moisture 

 relations in plants in European laboratories. 



The MacMillan Co. announce the early publication of a 

 work on the physiology of plant production by B. M. Dug- 

 gar, and a work on bacteria in relation to agriculture. 



Mr. A. K. Chittenden has been appointed assistant in 

 the U. S. Forest Service to investigate the White Mountains 

 and Apalachian Mountains with a view toward the proposed 

 national park. 



A symposium on the species conception was held by the 

 Botanical Society of America, at Chicago on January ist, 

 1908. The taxonomic aspects of the subject were presented 

 by Drs. C. E. Bessey and N. L. Britton; the physiologic 

 spects by Drs. J. C. Arthur and D. T. MacDougal; and the 

 ecologic aspects by Drs. H. C. Cowles and F. C. Clements. 

 The full text of the papers will be printed together in Science 

 at an early date. 



Mr. H. R. Fulton, Plant Pathologist of the Louisiana 

 Experiment Station, has resigned and will on January first, 

 assume the duties of Assistant Professor of Botany in the 

 Pennsylvania State College of Agriculture. 



