172 BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 



corolla. One fly twisted his head off in the attempt to get away. 

 Many small bees got caught, and mosquitoes too, quite often two 

 to a flower. They are held by the tongue or the legs. Honey 

 bees are large enough to escape or pull out. He could not discover 

 that the capturing of flies or bees was of any advantage to the plant. 



How the Seeds of Stipa are Planted by Nature. — Jesse 

 J. Beal dropped about 20 fruits of Stipa spartea on a box of sand. 

 The fruit has a long awn which is straight when wet and twisted 

 when dry. Half the grains were dropped on sand where straws 

 were stuck in every inch or so in every direction, the other half 

 were dropped on sand without any straws or other objects on the 

 surface. The grains were each held by the tip of the awn about 

 as high as the plant grows, and each went down like an arrow T 

 large end first, and all stuck in the sand but one. They were alter- 

 nately wet and dried by sun and rain. They all bored into the 

 sand except one. They went down just as well where there were 

 no straws as where there were straws. 



Flowering of Timothy. — E. C. Bank observed in cool damp 

 weather, beginning June 29th, that a spike of timothy (Phleum 

 pratense) put forth flowers (stamens) for ten days in succession, ex- 

 cept none on the ninth day. In another place, in warmer weather, 

 beginning July 15th, spikes put forth stamens for eleven days. 

 Most flowers appear during a few days of the middle of these 

 periods. 



The Climbing of the Wild Morning Glory.— E. T. Gard- 

 ner observed the wild morning glory (Cahjstegia sepium) and as 

 in former years some dozen specimens were found twining the 

 wrong way, following the course of the sun. A smooth post two 

 inches in diameter was about as large as the vine would ascend. 



Structure and Growth of the Cell Wall. 



Prof. E. Strasburger's most recent publication is a work of 

 264 pp. entitled, " Ueber den Ban und das Wachsthum der Zell- 

 haute " (On the Structure and Growth of the Cell-Wall). The 

 book contains some most interesting contributions to our knowl- 

 edge of the origin and growth of the cell-wall and starch grains, 

 the function of the nucleus and the assimilation of carbon, and, 

 based upon our previous knowledge and the author's investiga- 

 tions, offers some important theories in regard to the molecular 

 structure of organized bodies. 



So worthy of notice are some of the results at which he has 

 arrived that we reproduce from the Jour. Roy. Mic. Soc. a summary 

 of the salient points of the book, as follows: 



With regard to the intimate structure of organized bodies, 



