THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 79 



i . 

 flies away and soon hrini^s back a plant which laid at the en- 

 trance will at once remo\L' the obstruction, m > matter how 

 >trongly fastened. One then has only to tri<(hten the bird 

 away to secure the coveted prize. If this is merely laid in 

 the keyhole, it will ojjcn any lock. There is also the celan- 

 dine or swallow-wort {Chclidonhini iiiajiis) with which the 

 ^wallow restores the sig'ht of am- nestlin<^ which hai)pens to 

 l)e blinded. In early days more than <»ne [)oor I)ird was 

 blinded by ignorant yokels intent on securing the "kenning- 

 wort" by which even man himself was to ini|)n>\c his sight. 

 Such superstitions have remarkable vitality. Country boys 

 still split the tongues of crows in the hope of enabling them 

 to talk and doubtless ha\'e not entirely ceased to look for the 

 jewel in the toad's head. 



Abundance of Erysiphe;. — On the lower surface of a 

 leaf of Jerusalem artichoke (Hcliaiithiis tuberosiis) with a 

 surface of approximately 24,000 scjuare millimeters, half of 

 which was covered by the mildew, Erysiplie cichoracearimi, 

 there was found an average of 50 perithecia (fruit bodies) to 

 each 40 square millimeters, or a total for the leaf of 15,000. 

 The upper surface of the leaf, though covered by a thicker 

 mycelium, seemed to possess a similar number of perithecia. 

 As each perithecium usually contains four or five asci each 

 (but often more) with two spores in each ascus, it is not 

 astonishing at the [)roper time, to find this mildew on many 

 .species (^f Com|)ositae, which order of plants it seems to pre- 

 fer to live on. i\ mildew hunter can hardly cross a field 

 without noticing it. — Bdo Claasscn, Cleveland, Ohio. 



Tamarix akticui..\t.\. — Apropos of Tainarix discussed 

 in the last Botanist they are growing a tree now in some parts 

 of the Colorado desert of California whicli I have seen thirty 

 feet high or more. It is locally called Athol. — C. f. Saun- 

 ders. [The different forms of Tamarix seem specially suited 



