THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 23 



material for this work may be obtained from vigorous young 

 twigs of ash, walnut, or butternut, the latter by preference. 



Witch hazel is a fine type of naked bud when it can be 

 obtained, but if it is not at hand, the pawpaw, butternut and 

 many of the viburnums especially the cultivated ones, will do. 

 In this connection it should not be forgotten that there are 

 many buds not protected by bud scales which are not usually 

 named as naked buds but which are essentially such. Buds 

 like those of the catalpa, sumac and ailanthus are, at the be- 

 ginning of winter, scarcely more than mere living points, half 

 buried in the bark of the twigs but later in the season they 

 will show their character. For class work these should not be 

 used if better things can be obtained. 



Probably the most important facts about buds from the 

 pupil's standpoint are the ways in which they are arranged 

 on the twigs, what they produce and how and from what they 

 are protected. It is well to emphasize the fact that buds do 

 not protect from cold for the moisture in them is often frozen 

 solid during the winter. Yet nine persons out of ten one 

 meets is sure that the chief use of bud scales is to protect from 

 the cold. In this they draw an analogy from their own cloth- 

 ing, forgetting that the wannth is supplied to our clothing by 

 the heat of the body. That bud scales may protect from sud- 

 den changes of temperature, no one can deny, that their color 

 may aid in warming up in spring is possible, but the real uses 

 of bud scales seem to be to protect from complete evapora- 

 tion, mechanical injury and decay. — C. N. IV. in School 

 Science and Mathematics- 



Use of the Word Monocot. — The words monocot and 

 dicot, used to indicate plants produced by seeds with one and 

 two cotyledons respectively have at present, no standing as 

 legitimate words but there seems to be no reason why they 

 should not have. The dictionary allows us monocotyledon and 



