BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 1 63 



ly allied species and one observed by Sir Joseph Hooker to flower in Tas- 

 mania at the same time as A. dealbata, has during its cultivation in Eng- 

 land since 1790 changed its time of flowering from May-July to February. 

 The influence of their environment upon the blossoming of these trees 

 seems quite marked. 



M. Leplay of the Paris Academy of Sciences has read a paper upon 

 a chemical study on maize. He states that sugar is found in the leaves, 

 and accumulates in the stem till the moment of formation of starch in 

 the grains. It then migrates into the spike, first into the support of the 

 grains, then into the grains themselves, where it is replaced by starch. 

 This migration continues to be fed by the leaves till they disappear, then 

 in great part by the stem, diminishing, however, as the starch is devel- 

 oped. The function of the sugar, then, is to furnish to the grain the ele- 

 ments of starch. 



Mu. Wm. M. Canby has observed that the tips of the leaflets of 

 Akebia quinata, a plant twining over a trellis near his porch, dripped 

 moisture enough to make the floor look as if sprinkled. Mr. Meehan 

 has followed up these observations and found no constancy nor period- 

 icity in the exudation, nor, indeed any external circumstances which in- 

 duce it. The same observer detected a similar -exudation from the 

 pistil just before the expansion of the flower and also among the petals 

 in the bud which soon disappeared. In Thuja also there is a sudden ap- 

 pearance of a small globule at the open mouth of the naked ovule. Sachs 

 suggests that in Coniferse the use of this exudation is to catch the pollen 

 and as it sinks within the vesicle carries the pollen grains to the nucleus 

 and fertilization is effected by actual contact. 



We are sure that the friends of the Gazette will be gratified at 

 the evidence of progress shown by this initial number of Vol. VIII. 

 The new arrangement of matter into distinct' departments, with some 

 additional pages and a greater range in type, nearly doubles the capacity, 

 and in our opinion we now present to our patrons as large and neatly- 

 printed a periodical as can be issued at the present low rate of subscrip- 

 tion. The editor also takes pleasure in announcing in this formal way, 

 what all have seen upon the title page, that with the new volume there 

 will be associated with him Professor Charles R. Barnes, of Purdue 

 University, and Prof. J. C. Arthur, of Charles City, Iowa. All who are ' 

 acquainted with these gentlemen will testify to the fact that no better 

 selection could have been made, and that their vigor of thought and 

 action will constantly be felt in the pages of the Gazette. 



Dr. A. L. Child records in the Popular Science Monthly some ob- 

 servations upon the relation between the so-called "annual rings" of 

 trees and the known age. His attention was called to the matter by the 

 statement of M. I)Gsir5 Charnav that in a shrub which he knew to be on- 



