BOTANTCAL GAZETTE. 'RS 



CijAYTONia ViRGiNrcA, L. — The following: observations on (■lai/toina Virginica 

 may be of interest, as they seem 1o establish the fuel of lieteroniorphism. The following 

 variations were noticed: 



1. The lartj^er number of s|)e('imens were roseate, with slamens equaling or exceed- 

 ing the style, anthers all perfect and pollen bearing. 



2. A smaller number of specimens have tljwers pure white, smaller everyway; 

 style" as in No. 1; stamens imiK^rfecf, filaments short and unequal, anthers bearing no 

 pollen. 



3. Specimens were found witli flowers as in No. 1 and No. 2, growing from the 

 same tuber, on different stems. 



4. Later in the season a numl»er of specimens were found, in which apart of the 

 stamens of each liower were of ordinary length and iierfcct, and jiarl were short and 

 abortive. Fruit was pcnfect ami al>uiidant in all forms. How can Prof. Meehan's 

 theory of self-fertilization during "sleep" ivork in No. 2 V Nearly the same variations 

 were noted mEpigmt npt'iix, excej)t there was no ditterence in length of styles in tn^o 

 forms. 



I found a half dozen specimens of pure white Lolidia sgphiUtyini -di'iiw diiyti before I 

 received your October No.— C. F. VViik1';i,i<:k, Jluhburrlxf.o/i, Mich . 



Sevknth Annual Kkport of tuk (iEoLoi^icAi, Suhvey of Indiana, by E. T. Cox, 



State (xEin^oGisT. 187o. — This is the largest report sent out by the Geological Survey, 

 containing some GIK) pages of valuable material. Two contributions are of special in- 

 terest to botanists and hence come within the scope of the Gazette to notice. They 

 are "Species of Fossil Marine Plants fi-om the Carboniferous Measures." by Prof. Leo 

 Lesquereux, and a "Catalogue of the Flora ot the Lower Wabash," by Dr. .1. Schneck. 

 The latter is worthy of a more extended notice than can be given it in this number and 

 will be reviewed in a subsequent article. The former more strictly belongs to Geology, 

 but is of interest to all botanists interested in the ancient as well as the modern llora of 

 our country. It is a description (jf five new species of fossil marine plants from the 

 coal measures, and their interest and importance cannot better be staled tlian in the in- 

 troduction of the author. 



"The occurrence of fucoidal remains or (if fossil marine plants, in the coal measures, 

 is extremely rare. Indeed it is questionable if any species of this kind has ever been 

 di.scovered in the carboniferous formation of Europe. In this country one species 

 only has been described, in 1866, fnnn specimens found in a thin lied of limestone, oc- 

 cupying the place of the millstone grit, opposite Wurtemberir, on Slippery Pock creek, 

 a branch of the Coneconessing river in Penn.sylvania. The species is related by its 

 characters, to the so-called and well known /'(MvJi^^.s 6'aMr/r/-r/aWi of the middle and 

 upper Demniaii, and therefore does not rejircsent ancient types, like those which are 

 described here, and which rec;!»!l tlie oldest forms of marine i)lants, those of the Silu- 

 rian, even oftiie lower divisions of this formation, the calciferous sandstone of New 

 York. 



It may seem of lifilc imjiortancc to have plant,-, of this kind described and figured 

 in a geologu'al rejtort, but as geologists have to consider, for the determination of the 

 age of the strata o\' our earth, the remains of plants and animals which, preserved in 

 their comiiounds, may determine iiy their nature the |)osition ot' valualile deposits ot 

 minerals, even mere fragments of these organisms become important for their re- 

 searches. And when fossils are found, which not only represent new types (rf plants 

 or of animals, but which are remarkable by their jiresence in a formation where noth- 

 ing like lias ever been found, the discovery is indeed worth recording in ihc annals (^( 

 geology, and gives to tlie report where they are described a wide and general interest." 



Aster oblongifolius, Nutt.— Beautiful specimens of this Axter were found grow- 

 ing at Clifty Falls. October 12th of this year. It takes the form of a small shrubby 



