2IO 



BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 



than that modest, reticent study of nature in which many country peo- 

 ple nevertheless indulge.) 



'•The evergreen trees in front of their doors, what do they know 

 about their habits V Do the pine and hemlock shed their leaves? Xot 

 id any strict sense." May I ask in a vague sense what they do with 

 t hem otherwise? "In the deciduous trees the new leaves take the \>l<v< 

 of the old (bic); they <-<>me out in. the axits of the old leaves and the 

 branch is reclothed each spring, even if no new shoots appear"!! Dr. 

 Gray says that whatever is produced in the axil of a leaf when develop- 

 ed is a branch but then Dr. Gray may lie one of those unfortunate.-, 

 who miss their fact for lack id' "a sharp eye" and capacity for '"swift in- 

 ference." "Butjnone of the Conifers renew their leaves as do the decid- 

 uous trees." "If the tr.ee (conifer) were to cease to grow it would prob- 

 ably (though of this I am not certain) cease to shed its leaves." Nothing 

 like caution in stating a scientific hypothesis, but what sense is there in 

 the foregoing? It may be said that a. writer who uses language in such 

 a loose way as to talk about the "molting season" of trees and "foresight 

 in a weed" is not to be held to a close verbal construction. But the con- 

 text of the passage from which I have quoted shows an effort toward 

 hypercritical accuracy on the part of one who "holds his eye long and 

 firmly to the point and will not be baffled." A Coitntkv.max. 



Water Tores of Fuchsia. In Bessey's Botany (1st Ed., p. 104) Mr 

 ,1. V. Arthur figures a water pore|ffom a leaf-toOth of Fuchsia grlobosa 

 and mentions the tact that in the dark colored varieties there are sever- 

 al of these openings on each tooth. The 

 accompanying figure illustrates a group of 

 these as shown by a slide prepared by Miss 

 Katie L. Bishop in the botanical labora- 

 tory of Purdue University. The number 

 of these water-rifts is unusually large, sev- 

 en surrounding a, the central pore, which 

 commonly occupies alone the tip of the 

 tooth. Several slides were obtained, show- 

 ing two or three of these openings, but 

 ZT none approaching the number here figured. 

 'ttp" Inasmuch as the literature and illustra- 



Fig. J.— Water-pores from tip of tions concerning this subject are so ven 

 to 2 tl J.™t!£iwf M>Uia ts ''-'' h meager it is hoped that this figure, though 



not representing any great novelty, may be of use to whoever under- 

 takes a fuller study of these interesting structures. ■(.'. B. B. 



Schedule for the study of Cyperus. 1 have found the schedule plan 

 ol approach so Useful with difficult orders and genera that I constantly 

 extend it to the examination of others. The young student is apt to 

 see in a sedge or grass so much at once that is new and confusing that 

 he niay abandon the work in despair. If. however, he carefully writes 



-- r- i- - I l_J 



a. 



