BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 43 



cliffs, along with Viola pubescens and var. scabriuscula, T. & G. On 

 wooded hill-sides, Hypericiun sphxrocarpon, Mx. , occurs with Tragia 

 macrocarpa, Willd. , which last, according to Gray, has no stinging 

 hairs ; but they certainly made themselves felt on the back of my 

 hands and wrists, while unable to penetrate the thicker epidermis of 

 the fingers and palm. — R. H. Wildberger, Ky. Mil. Institute, Fartn- 

 dale, Ky. 



Syracuse Botanical Club. — This active club does not confine its 

 attention to field work, but has been busily employed all winter. 

 They have held weekly meetings for the reading of papers on all the 

 important orders of plants, illustrated by specimens collected the sea- 

 son before. Such a course has kept them very familiar with their lo- 

 cal flora and we anticipate large results from it during the coming 

 season. They will take the field thoroughly prepared by a season's 

 experience in collecting and a winter of study, and our prophecy is 

 that the summer of 1880 will bring to them richer results than that of. 

 1879. Physiologrcal botany has not been neglected, for they have 

 considered such subjects as "Perfume and Color" in plants, "Com 

 plementary Colors," "Motion in Plants" and "Insectivorous Plants." 



We write this not so much for the encouragement of the club, for 

 they do not need it, but to call attention to this most profitable way of 

 studying botany where several persons interested in the science are 

 within reaching distance of each other. One person working alone 

 is apt to dissipate his energies over a very broad field and the result 

 is small. But put several workers together and concentrate 

 their work and it brings important results. The little things, ^yhich 

 by themselves appear insignificant, when brought together, form an 

 aggregate which is of great importance. 



CuRTiss' N(.)RTH American Plants. — There is no better collector 

 of plants than Mr. A. H- Curtiss, of Jacksonville, Fla. Not only 

 does he succeed in collecting the rarest of species, but makes beauti- 

 ful specimens, and to receive a bundle from him, with species careful- 

 ly separated and labels handsomely printed, is a pleasure, the full en- 

 joyment of which only a botanist can appreciate. Mr. Curtiss has 

 just issued Fascicle III of his N. Am. Plants. In it are found 215 

 species and varieties, some 15 being supplementary to Fascicles I 

 and II. The price of this Fascicle, at Cambridge, is eighteen dol- 

 lars. 



ToRREV Bulletin. —The February number is at hand, even hand- 

 somer and more attractive than the last. Putting in each month a 

 short synopsis of the proceedings of the club is a good idea, for we all 

 want to know what these clubs are talking about. In the proceedings 

 of this month we notice a peculiar idea advanced by Dr. Jarvis in a 

 paper on "Galls." The idea was not new to us, but its publicity was. 

 It is that the gall insect is a product of the plant. It is contended 



