86 THE PLANT WORLD 



Dr. A. Nestler has recently made an examination of the 

 secretions of these and three other species of Cypripedium 

 at the Institute for Plant Physiology at Prague. This material 

 was found to be a colorless, brownish or reddish substance, 

 in which the poisonous compound was probably united with a 

 fatty acid. Some difference was seen in the chemical reactions 

 of the secretions of the various species examined, only one of 

 which exerted a dermatitic action on the investigator, the tests 

 not being extended to any other person, hence nothing was 

 added to present information as to the comparative action 

 of the several species. It is well known that many are wholly 

 immune from the effects of all species of poison ivy and 

 other skin irritants. Dr. Nestler concludes that the poisonous 

 substance of Crypripedium is unlike that of Primula which 

 he has recently examined and also of poison ivy which was 

 described some time since. The figures of the accompanying 

 plate taken from Dr. Nestler's article illustrate the form 

 of the glandular hairs and the occurrence of the secretion 

 very clearly. — D. T. MacDoural. 



THE BOTANICAL GARDEN OF FLORENCE. 

 From the Piazza San Marco, in Florence, with its 

 church and monastery (in the latter of which the visitor sees 

 the cell of Savanarola), if one proceeds southeastward along 

 the Via Lamarmora, he passes on the right the entrance 

 to the Institute of Higher Studies, and comes shortly to a 

 small gate which gives access to the Botanical Garden, The 

 buildings occupied by the Institute, like most of the buildings 

 of Florence, are of plastered stone, dull buff in color. The 

 v/indows on the ground floor are protected by the common 

 iron grills, and the widely projecting eaves and dull-red tile 

 roofs, with their odd shaped chimney pots, give them a 

 characteristic Italian appearance. Beyond these buildings 

 a high wall, uniform with the buildings themselves, and with 

 red tile coping, continues to the next street, the Via Micheli, 

 named for the famous botanist. Before reaching the gate 



