24 BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 



houses themselves may overflow, or be broken iato and their couteuts scattered. That 

 one kind of plant should supersede another, or that one kind should grow so vigor- 

 ously as to choke out all others, is merely an illustration of the "survival of the fittest." 

 —Mrs. J. M. Milligan. 



Some lakge Walnuts. — In the Gazette I see notes occasionally of unusually 

 large growths. The following may be of interest in this connection. A small Juglans 

 nigra, about six inches in diameter and about twenty feet high, bore three pecks of 

 fruit, which average near 11% inches in circumference, and 10% ounces in weight. 

 The tree grows in a field, and has no unusual appearance, except the fruit, which looks 

 more like that of the Osage Orange. — Dr. J. Schneck, Mt. Carmel, III. 



The Range op the common Huckelberry in Missouri. — The common huckel- 

 berry is not found north of a certain N. ^!. and S. W. line. Its northern extension is a 

 follows: I have found it on Cuivre blufts near Troy, Lincoln Co.; also in the northwest 

 part of St. Charles county; on Missouri bluffs as far west as Jeft'erson City; near Ver- 

 sailles in Morgan county; at Clinton, in Henry county; and in Jasper county; thence it 

 passes southwestward. It is invariably found on either flinty or sandy soil, or where 

 there is but little soil. It abounds chiefly in the pine region of South-eastern Missouri. 

 — Prof. G. C. Broadhead. 



Some new stations. — The neighboring county of Clark bids fair to equal Jeft'er- 

 son in the number of its good plants. When it is thoroughly worked up we hope to 

 be able to rei)ort many rare things, but tliose enumerated below are worthy of special 

 mention. While doing some field work last May with one of the College classes, Mr. 

 Chas. R. Barnes called my attention to an odd little Crucifer cliugiug to the edges of 

 some shaly limestone blufts. The plant seemed to have suppressed every other part 

 for the benefit of its enormons pods, which were more than half as long as all the rest, 

 and a much more noticeable object than the inconspicuous lyrate root leaves. The little 

 stranger proved to be Leave iiirorthia 3Iiehau.ru, Torr., growing there in sufficient abund- 

 ance to satisfy the rapacity of even a botanist possessed of the mania for exchanging. 

 Within a few miles of the above, later in the season, Mr. John F. Baird, collected some 

 fine specimens of Sullmintia, Ohionis, T. & G., and reported that it was growing in 

 greater abundance even than at Clifty Falls, the habitat of specimens that arc to be 

 found in very man}' of the herbaria of the land. Of couise it was growing upon damp 

 limestone clitt's, sending its roots down into the soft, spongy moss. Mr. B;iird also col- 

 lected specimens of Cleome 2}>ingens,WiUd.,tlrdt to all appearances were perfectly natur- 

 alized.— J. M. C. 



Botanicaij Excursions, No. 1, by J. G. Lemmon.— The Great Basin. — The great, 

 basin of America is the bed of the evaporated Mediterranean sea of tiie western conti- 

 nent. Situated on the same parallels as its Eastern prototype, bordered like that on all 

 sides with high ranges of mountains, it difter* from it in two particulars, which ren- 

 dei' the one a very salt sea and the other a very salty desert. 



The Mediterranean sea fills a deep chasm in the earth's crust 2,000 to 6,000 feet 

 deep; hdug between 30 deg. and 46 deg. north lat., and almost constantly swept by the 

 dry winds of the great Sahara, its waters are evaporated at an immense rate, which 

 would, ages ago, have emptied its basin but for the other important fact, the Strait of 

 Gibraltar, through which a strong current ever comes from the ocean; and this, in ad- 

 dition to the mighty rivers which empty into the sea, and all to restore the equilibrium 

 disturbed by evaporation. To this evaporation — this lifting of a sea into the ail' — is 

 Europe indebted, mainly, for its exceeding fertility. The dry South wind is a sponge 

 which takes up the waters of the Mediterranean and, condensed by the cold summits 

 of the mountains of Europe, showers its waters over the plains. To this fact also is 

 due the intense saltiness of the Mediterranean, for salt is the residuum of evaporation. 



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