NOTES AND COMMENT 



The appearance of the first number of Botanical Abstracts should 

 serve to stimulate interest in this publication, projected less than a 

 year ago. Over two hundred papers are abstracted in ten of the de- 

 'partments into, which botany has been divided for editorial purposes. 

 The initial number is a splendid proof of the willingness and ability 

 of American botanists to furnish material for a general reviewing or- 

 gan, and it is also an eloquent testimonial of the substantial usefulness 

 of such a journal. The members of the editorial board of Botanical 

 Abstracts have now done their part in making it an actuality. Its 

 continued appearance depends upon every botanist in the United 

 States doing his part to secure support for it, through either personal 

 or institutional subscriptions. The temper of mind among American 

 men of science is now such that we are scarcely willing to depend on 

 reviewing organs that are published in foreign languages on an ex- 

 tremely tardy schedule. 



Mr. George B. Sudworth has continued his treatment of the conifers 

 of the Rocky Mountain region in a Bulletin of the Department of Ag- 

 riculture (No. 680), covering the genera Larix, Tsuga, Pseudotsuga, 

 Libocedrus, Thuja, and Taxus. The fonu of description and maps of 

 distribution are similar to previous bulletins in this series. A more po'p- 

 ular treatment of the conifers of the northern Rocky Mountain region 

 has been published by Dr. J. E. Kirkwood (Bull. 1917, No. 53, Bureau 

 of Education). This is a very successful presentation of the botanical 

 and ecological features of these trees from the educational standpoint. 



Dr. Frank C. Baker has published an extended paper on The Pro- 

 ductivity of Invertebrate Fish Food on the Bottom of Oneida Lake, New 

 York. Although written with special reference to mollusks this paper 

 contains much that is of interest to the general ecologist as well as to 

 the student of aquatic and palustrine vegetation. The principal plant 

 communities are described, and three maps of the vegetation of the 

 lake are given. 



244 



