138 BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 



seeds are thrown just as in Viola, by the squeezing together of the 

 valves, just as a moist apple seed is projected from between the 

 fingers by simple pressure. 



The Am. Monthly Micr. Jour, says that if the pollen grains 

 of Narcissus poeticus be placed in the mucilage obtained from the 

 stem of the plant and kept at a temperature of 55° to 60° Fahr. 

 the pollen tubes will grow rapidly and currents of protoplasm 

 will be seen within them. This is surely worth a trial by our 

 teachers. Talking of pollen grains, the same Journal says that 

 castor oil is one. of the best mounting mediums for them, clearing 

 them beautifully and showing their markings very distinctly. 



The Australian Big Trees are coming to be better known 

 as the trackless forests of that new world are yielding up their 

 secrets to the explorer. Victoria now claims to possess the biggest 

 living "big tree" in the world. It is a Eucalyptus amygdalina and 

 measures 380 feet to the top, and has a circumference of 60 

 feet at some distance from the ground. An exchange suggests a 

 good comparison by saying that the tree only lacks 10 feet of 

 being twice as high as Bunker Hill Monument. 



Mr. R. Douglas, of Waukegan, Ills., one of our most experi- 

 enced foresters, writes for the last Gardener s Monthly upon the 

 subject of the succession of torest growth. His extended observa- 

 tions go to show that forests destroyed by the axe, and the tire 

 kept out, will reproduce the same species. In burned districts 

 however such is not the case, the first tree making its appearance 

 being generally the Aspen, sometimes the White Birch. The 

 only coniferous trees that can ever survive such a catastrophe are 

 a few pines with very hard cones. 



In the Torret Bulletin for November is given an account 

 with figures, of a curious phenomenon described in La Nature. In 

 South America north oi the Amazons there was found a small 

 reptile, the jaracaca, within the trunk of a tree of common occur- 

 rence, the "lpe-mirim," whose body, with the exception of the 

 center, had become completely lignified, even some of the delicate 

 anatomical details being faithfully retained, just as in petrifaction. 

 Of course the reptile was imbedded in the cambium-layer. Other 

 cases are given illustrating the same power of the cambium. 



Flora of Jackson County, by Frank Bush, has just been 

 received. So far as title page or introduction tell we are left to 

 guess at the sta^e, which only appears in the imprint to be Mis- 

 souri. In lists meant for foreign distribution the name of the 

 state should be as prominent as that of the county. Mr. Bush 

 has given us a very creditable catalogue, of 20 pages, and 000 

 species. The "Introduction" gives a good idea of the topography 

 of the county and contains the following general statement with 

 regard to the plant orders: u As will be seen, our Flora is devoid of 

 Club-mosses, Fines, Spruces and Heaths, contains but few Lilies, 



