THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 129 



it is as far stnith of the ctjuator as the ohserver is tvmu the 

 north i)(>le when it disappears completely from view below the 



horizon and the Inns,' winter night sets in to last unlii the 

 sun has passed through the winter solstice and ha> again 

 reached the same distance south of the ecpiator on its return 

 journey to the north. — Science Service. 



h'l.owKRixG Bamboos. — Readers of the Botanist who 

 Ii\e in a winter sufficiently mild to permit the cultivation 

 (»f bamboos in the open air will recall that it is a rare e.\[)er- 

 ience to find one in flower. Even in their native haunts many 

 species flower only at long intervals, sometimes as much as 

 thirty years, after which the whole plant dies; and it often 

 happens that cultivated plants never produce any flowers at all. 

 I had the vmexpected pleasure this past season of coming upon 

 a bamboo-hedge in full flower. The species, a very common 

 one in cultivation here, introduced from Japan, is Pliyllo- 

 stiicliys niitis, belt)nging to a genus easily recognized by the 

 fact that the internodes of the culm are flattened on one side. 

 This species is perfectly hardy in our climate, but no flowers 

 liad ever been reported until a hedge in front of the State 

 School for the Deaf suddenly in late August I)urst into bloom, 

 the panicles in many cases being as much as two feet in length. 

 This will doubtless end the career of that particular hedge; but 

 the plant is easily propagated by root-cuttings. It would be in- 

 teresting to know the experiences of other readers with flower- 

 ing of this (»r any (tther species. Mrs. Agnes Chase tells me 

 that though this Phyllostachys has been known in cultixation 

 about Washington, D. C. for some fifteen years, it has never 

 been known to flower. — /. C. Nelson, Saletn. Orcc/on. 



Plant or Animal Locusts? — Rev. George L. Tilton 

 questions the statement, in a recent niunber. that tiie food of 



