NEWS ITEMS. 73 



NEWS ITE^IS. 



The Dioscurides Codex. — The Library of the Xew York 

 Botanical Garden has recently accjuired the two volumes of " The 

 Dioscurides Codex Aniciae Julianae picturis illustratus, nunc 

 A'indobonensis Med. g^r. I Photot\pice editus." The original 

 manuscri])t. now in the Imperial Library at \'ienna. was photo- 

 graphed and the present edition is a phototypic reproduction of 

 the photographs. 



This work dates from the year 512 A. D., and is the basis of 

 most of the earl\- herbals. The work is important, not only from 

 the standpoint of botany, but also in the history of the science, 

 for the illustrations are from original specimens of the fifth cen- 

 tury. The work was written for the Princess Anicia Ji^diana, 

 of B}zantium, whose portrait appears in the book. 



The two folio volumes are bound in heavy oak, and the plates 

 are said to reproduce the originals with great faithfulness. In 

 addition to the illustrations of plants, there are miniatures of 

 groups of physicians and botanists, and of artists protlucing pic- 

 tures of plants. 



Two copies of a reproduction were made previous to the pres- 

 ent, one of which was used by Linnaeus, and is now in the Library 

 of the Linnaean Society of London. The other copy, now at 

 Oxford, was used by Sibthorpe in preparing his " Flora Graeca." 



At the twelfth annual meeting of the Botanical Society of 

 America, held at Xew Orleans in affiliation with the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, January 1-4, 1906, 

 the following pa])ers were presented : 



J. C. Arthur: "Cultures of Uredineae in 1905." , 



G. F. Atkinson : "' The Development of ItliyfhaUits iiiipiidicits (L.) Fries, 

 from France." 



F. E. Lloyd : " Some Physiological Aspects of Stomata." 

 B. E. Livingston : " Relatixe Transpiration." 



G. H. Shull : "Comparative Variation and Correlation in Three JNIutants 

 and their Parent." 



G. H. Shull: "Some Latent Characters of the White Bean." 



D. T. ]\IacDouga! : "Origin and Heredity of Bud Sports." "The Indue- 



