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

 anist are always in demand for this department. Our 

 readers are invited to make this the place of publication 

 for their botanical items. 



Edible Stink-horns. — One group of the higher fungi 

 has been named stink-horn fungi, because of the horribly 

 disgusting odor the mature plants emit. The j'-oung or 

 "egg'^ stage of the plant is palatable, according to the 

 Mycological Bulletin, JDut most people who delight to eat 

 fungi will doubtless consider these eggs as bad eggs. 



More About Nomenclature. — One of the greatest 

 evils in modern botany is the class of pure name-jugglers, 

 who for the love of seeing their names in print dig up all 

 kinds of vague excuses to change plant names. These men 

 do not, perhaps, advance a single new thought or idea 

 regarding the relationships or classification of plants. 

 They simply dig back into the musty and dim records of 

 the past and unearth some forgotten fact, or more often 

 make some supposition or guess, and then proceed to ela- 

 borate a lot of new combinations to w^hich their own 

 name is invariably added. — C. G. Lloyd in Mycological 

 Notes. 



Nature's Seed Testing. — The harvest of a single 

 season results in a great crop of seeds, good, bad and 

 indifferent, from Nature's wild lands. Not all of these 

 grow, however. Nature has no Agricultural Department, 

 but she manages to test her seeds pretty rigidly. Some 

 succumb to cold and moisture and others are too light in 

 weight to hold their place after reaching the soil but are 

 blown hither and thither b\^ the wind. Of those that 

 grow, only the ones with an ample store of energy back 

 of them in the shape of good, sound tissues can expect 

 to reach maturit3'. The rest are choked out by stronger 

 competitors. 



