276 NOTES AND COMMENT 



paper on which lies (7) a specimen, (8) blotter, (9) corrugated board, 

 and so on. This sounds elaborate, but my correspondent puts up about 

 4000 specimens in a summer, as hobby work, and has used his methods 

 in travels to distant places. My own results without such special 

 care are satisfactory for purposes of teaching. My correspondent fur- 

 ther writes: "I use instead of a lamp a No. 2 lantern, which is much 

 safer, and I lay my press on a frame about 24 ins. high. I also always 

 bring the ducking that surrounds the press fully up to the top and tie 

 it around the top. This forces the draught of air through the whole 

 press." 



I am glad to submit these corrections and additions, hoping only to 

 spread the knowledge of this quick, easy and efficient method of drying 

 plants. — Henry S. Conard. 



Professor Samuel J. Record, of the Yale Forest School, has written 

 a text and reference book entitled Economic Woods of the United States 

 (John Wiley and Sons). The principal anatomical features of wood 

 are discussed, both in their relation to its physical properties and with 

 respect to their value as diagnostic characters for the identification of 

 the wood of different tree species. An extended key for the determina- 

 tion of woods is a feature of the book, together with a few tables of physi- 

 cal properties of timber, about forty microphotographic illustrations of 

 wood sections, and full citations of literature under each anatomical 

 topic and each species of tree. 



Copies of the Montgomery Advertiser and the Tuscaloosa News which 

 have been sent us by a correspondent indicate that considerable interest 

 is being manifested in Alabama in the visit which Professor De Vries 

 is making to the type locality of Oenothera lamarckiana, at Dixie Landing, 

 near Mobile. Men of science are rare in the south-eastern states, and 

 appreciated by the general public perhaps less than in any other section 

 of the United States. It is particularly gratifying, therefore, to find 

 that the local scientists of Alabama have seen to it that their daily papers 

 contain accurate and appealing accounts of Professor De Vries and his 

 work. 



