THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 53 



no such process occurs. The Hving cell is made up of active 

 labile molecules and these molecules consist of numerous atoms 

 and each atom contains a large group of electrons; atoms and 

 electrons are in ceaseless rythmic motion while groups of atoms 

 are being constantly cast out of the molecule and replaced by 

 new groups, split off from matter outside the molecule. Mat- 

 ter is endowed with life when it becomes the seat of that form 

 of energy which makes of it a metabolic mechanism. As soon 

 as a molecule becomes the seat of assimilation and excretion, 

 it is no longer dead; it lives." 



A California Poppy Note. — While the California poppy 

 can hardly yet be classed in the list of disappearing wild 

 flowers, it is a fact that it is much scarcer near the larger cities 

 of the Southern California tourist belt than it was even a few 

 years ago. This is due partly to the gradual settling up of the 

 land and the bringing of it under the plough; but quite as 

 much, perhaps, to the wasteful gathering of the blossoms by 

 crowds of wildflower hunters, who often carelessly pluck the 

 plants up by the roots. Fortunately it grows readily from seed 

 broadcast, and it is interesting to note that along the line of the 

 electric railway between Los Angeles and Pasadena, the com- 

 pany keeps a long strip of its roadway annually sown to this 

 golden wild flower, which at the height of its blooming is al- 

 ways the source of especial delight to the nature loving 

 traveler. — C. F. Saunders, Pasedeua. 



Peat Bogs. — The resident of the northern parts of our 

 country may be inclined to think he knows what a peat bog 

 is, and he may be surprised to learn that the well-known boggy 

 stretch covered with sphagnum and inhabited by pitcher- 

 plants, sundews and similar vegetation is but one type of peat 

 bog. This is the flat bog. but there are also hanging bogs and 

 raised bogs. The hanging bog is found on mountain sides 

 where a copious supply of water seeping down allows the peat 



