VIABILITY OF SKEUS I 59 



cabbage and celery seed, and 33 per cent of watermelon seed 

 germinated after being under water twenty-one days. In this 

 latter instance, however, the seeds were not in soil. 



Certain Indian tribes, in particular the Cucopa Indians, 

 sow the seeds of Sonoran millet {Paiiiciiin sononim) , \\\\\c\\ 

 is a robust annual much resembling old witch grass {Paiiiciiiii 

 aipillare), in the mud of the Colorado River delta as the 

 water recedes. From the seed of this plant a meal or Hour 

 is made, while the coarse straw is used for feed for animals. 



The so-called wild hemp is in reality a member of the 

 pea family; its seecis endure submergence admirably and be- 

 gin growth as soon as the flood disappears. In the course of 

 the summer the plants which are annuals attain a height of 

 fifteen or twenty feet; their deep and almost impenetrable 

 thickets or jungles are limited to areas that are subject to 

 annual overflow. J. J. Thornber, 



Univ. of Arizona, July, 1908. 



MINOR NOTES AND NEWS. 



Nor til American Trees. By Nathaniel Lord Britton with 

 the assistence of John Adolph Shafer. — Henry Holt & Co., 

 1908. American Nature Series. 



The first regret in taking up this book is that it could 

 not be made to include the shrubs as well as the trees; but 

 without them it is a bulky volume of 894 pages, bound in 

 the heavy form in which its publishers take delight, and 

 as it stands will never be slipped into the pocket as a field 

 companion. 



As stated by the author, it is designed to describe all the 

 kinds of tres known to grow independently of planting in 

 America, north of the West Indies and Mexico, and to illu- 

 trate them by figures showing the characters of foliage, flow- 

 ers and fruit. Good photographs illustrating the habits of 

 growth of various species have also been introduced and add 

 substantially to its value. 



