Wanted. — Short notes of interest to the general bot- 

 anist are alwa^^s in demand for this department. Our 

 readei's are invited to make this the place of publication 

 for their botanical items. 



Squash Varieties. — Country Life in America forjuty 

 gives an illustration of a pile of squashes containing 110 

 distinguishable varieties, all the product of a single cross- 

 bred squash. When nature can make so many varieties 

 in a single generation it would seem well for the describers 

 of "new species" to go slo\v — they may onty be varieties^ 

 after all. 



Another Mosquito Plant. — British nurser\mien are 

 advertising Ocimuni viride, one of the basils, as a plant 

 that w^ill drive av^ay mosquitos, and thus prevent malar- 

 ial fevers. It is described as unquestionabh^ a blessing to 

 mankind and seeds are offered at about $1.25 per packet. 

 If this plant will realh' drive away mosquitos, there are 

 many people who would consider immunity cheap at the 

 price asked, though it may seem to the majority that this 

 particular blessing comes rather high. 



Water Pores. — The number of facts in botanj^ that 

 even the student is content to accept on hearsay is sur- 

 prising. Take the stomata for instance. We all know 

 what stomata are, and the offices thc^^ perform in the 

 economy of the plant, but who, except those who have 

 taken a course in ph\'siological botanv, have ever seen 

 them ? Even less familiar are those curious modifications 

 of the stomata called water pores. These latter are 

 usuall}^ situated on the border of the leaves at the termin- 

 ation of the veins, and under certain circumstances exude 

 drops of clear water. Water pores are verv plainh^ to be 

 seen in the leaves of the garden nasturtium {Tropseolum) 

 and if one will examine them early in the day, before the 

 sun has drunk up the moisture, he may see the tiny glob- 



