Notes and Comment. 203 



ing a total length of 37 feet. The largest specimen of Alaria 

 prepared is 10 feet in length, and the largest one of Laminaria 

 is 3 feet. The only difficulty met with in treating these plants 

 was that of removing them from the solution and spreading 

 them out without tearing the fronds. This difficulty was espec- 

 ially great in the case of Nereocystis because the numerous 

 narrow fronds tangled badly, When, however, they were once 

 spread out in the sun, they became tough in a day or two." 



In September 1910 I came upon a young sycamore tree 

 with unusually large leaves, the largest of which measured 16, 

 18 and a little over 21 inches across. The tree, which had a 

 height of only seven or eight feet, was situated in a very shady 

 place on the banks of the Little White Oak Bayou at Houston, 

 Texas. It grew under a full grown sycamore, which came in 

 contact with a dense growth of tall weeds on the steep slope 

 above and interlocked with the branches of trees on the other 

 side of the bayou. By this practically all the sunlight was ex- 

 cluded. The young tree was very slender, scarcely more than 

 an inch thick at the base, and bore no lateral branches, its whole 

 energv being apparently spent in the manufacture of leaves. 

 The size of the leayes of Plaianus occidental ix '..., the sycamore of 

 this region, is given by various writers as from 4 to 9 inches 

 in diameter. These leaves were, therefore, far in excess of the 

 maximum recorded size. — R. A. Studhalter. 



The manner is well known by which the pollen masses 

 of the Asclepiads are extracted and carried off by insects 

 whose limbs are caught by the gland which unites these twin 

 masses It does not seem to have been noted, however, that 

 this apparatus may also sometimes act as an insect traj). »Such 

 is the case with the large flowers of Asclepias eriocarpa, a species 

 common on the plains of southern California. Not infrequent- 

 ly honev bees, alighting on the umbels of this species, have 

 several of their legs seized by the sensitive glands of different 

 pollen masses, which they are then unable to extract, and so 

 are held until they die. As many as six or seven dead or dy- 

 ing bees may be found on a single umbel. — S. B. Parish. 



