BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 16': 



in the season^ Here the llowers open freely and have rose-colored 

 petals. If he will examine fresh specimens of Scrophidaria, it will 

 soon be clear that his idea of their self-fertilization (p. 371) is a mis- 

 take. It is a mere slip in the Genera Plantaruni through which abor 

 tive stamens are attributed to the cleistogamous flowers of Ejyiphegns. 

 The authors evidently meant to describe the case just as Mr. Henslow 

 found it to be, l)ut used a wrong woi'd. 



''Weeds are probably all self-fertilizing or anemophilous. A weed 

 is simply an unattractive plant, and possessing no feature worthy of 

 cultivation." It may be as diflicult to define "a weed" as to define 

 ''dirt." But, turning to the Handbook of the British Flora, w^e find, 

 as we expected, that the showy Corn Poppy, Cockle, and Larkspur 

 are denominated weeds. Whv v/eeds should ])ossess the viiror and 

 gain the predominance which they do is a large question, to which 

 other solutions have been offered than the one which is in this 

 essay very plausibly maintained. We cannot take up the topic here; 

 but, without acceding to his general proposition, we are much dis- 

 posed to agree with the author in this essay, as respects some of 

 them, that aptitude for self-fertilization may have given them the 

 advantage wdiich has determined their wide dispersion. 



The insistence upon the importance of self-fertilization is what 

 gives this essay its value. As a whole it Ibrtifies the proposition, 

 well laid down by Herman Mueller, which Mr. Henslow cites: — "that, 

 under certain conditions, the facility for self-fertilization is mosi ad- 

 vantageous to a plant, while, under other conditions, the inevitable- 

 ness of cross-fertilization by the visits of insects is the more advan- 

 tageous." But this is not our author's thesis. It comes to this: the 

 plan of nature is either cross-fertilization supplem3nted by close-fer 

 tilization, or close-fertilization tempered by cross-fertilization. As 

 restricted to plants the diiference is not wide. Regarded generally, 

 the Darwinian axiom is still best sustained. 



Forests of Ckntral Nevada.— In an article on the Forests of Cen- 

 tnil Nevada, with some remarks on those of adjacent regions. Mr. 



('has. S. iSargent, says: 



A comparison of the arborescent vegetation of Nevada with that 

 of the region lying directly east and west of the ''Great Basin"' may 

 be interesting. Such a comparison will serve to more clearly dem- 

 onstrate the temarkable poverty of the Nevada forests. It will af- 

 foi'd, too, another illustration of the relation of moisture to forest 

 distribution, especially with reference to the multiplication of species. 



