BOTANICAL GAZETTE. n 



several of them could be brought into one field under a low power. 

 With a Beck's 34 objective and A eyepiece some of them had both 

 ends out of the field. — T. M. C. 



The Flora of Madagascar. — Madagascar is wonderfully rich 

 in its display of all kinds of life and its natural history has just been 

 considered in some interesting papers published by Mr. J. G. Baker 

 in the Journal of Botany. As Prof. Bessey says, this island is only a 

 little more than three-fourths the size of the State of Texas and yet the 

 number of species of flowering plants alone is estimated at from four 

 to five thousand. 



Mr. Baker closes his paper with the following summary of the 

 leading characteristics of the Madagascar flora: — 



i. The flora of the tropical zone throughout the world is remark- 

 ably homogeneous in its general character, and to this general rule 

 Madagascar furnishes no marked exception. There is no well-marked 

 plant type largely developed in the island which is not found else- 

 where, and none absent that one might, a priori, expect. 



2. About one in nine of the genera are endemic, but they are 

 all small genera, mostly belonging to the large natural orders and 

 closely allied to cosmopolitan generic types. 



3. There is a close affinity between the tropical flora of Mada- 

 gascar and that of the smaller islands of the Mascarene group. 



4. There is a close affinity between the tropical flora of Mada- 

 gascar and that of the African continent. 



5. There are a few curious cases in which Asiatic types which 

 do not occur in Africa are met with in Madagascar, but these bear 

 a very small numerical proportion to the great mass of the flora. 



6. There is a distinct affinity between the flora of the hill-coun- 

 try of Central Madagascar and those of the Cape and the mountain- 

 ranges of Central Africa. 



EpiphegllS Virginiana.— The Epiphegus Virginiana exhibits 

 an entirely different form of parasitic growth from those plants having 

 haustoria or sucking roots The beech root (on which it grows) on 

 being touched by the parasite, sends a branch, or branch-like growth 

 into the latter, through which all its nourishment is carried, causing 

 the death of the root from this point to its end, if not too large, while 

 that above flourishes despite the drain of the parasite. If, however, 

 the root is larger, and there is substance enough after the parasite is 

 supplied, it will live, but will be retarded in itsgrowth. — S. T. Fergus, 

 West Chester, Pa. 



Phytolacca (lecandra L. A prolific case.— In an article in the 

 July Number of the American Naturalist, I instanced our Eastern 

 snow bird finding a cache of Pokewort seeds in a deep bank of snow 

 by my garden fence. How the plant got there I do not know, but be- 

 cause of its elegance it was allowed to retain its place. This summer 

 it has attained proportions which exceed anything 1 have ever seen. 

 The plant threw out ten stems. Nine of these averaged ten 



