12 BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 



mistake. What is now Colorado Springs was once my camping 

 grounds when it was a "wild waste," and if any where I think I should 

 have found A. chtjsantha there. I never knew of any one finding it 

 there. Though found in southern Colorado. I believe, I have never 

 met with it myself in the State nor even in Utah, where it is probably 

 more at home. There seems to be an error also, in the reference to 

 "Rothrock in Wheeler's Survey." Instead of making "similar obser- 

 vations," he says they are '■'■always yellow," italicising the words. 

 From my observations of A. chrysantha, under culture, which have 

 been extensive, I should imagine there was as much distinction be- 

 tween the two species named, as between any other species, for, in 

 the whole genus the "evolutionary links" have not been lost in many 

 instances. Smilax herbacea, was collected by Isaac C. Martindale 

 and party, in Queen Canon, in 1878; as also was the interesting vari- 

 ety oi Ampdopsis quinqiiefoiia. The valuable observations on the flowers 

 which Mr. Jones made, were, however, not noted, the plant being 

 then only in fruit. See also Porter's Fl. Col. 



Mr. J. will, I trust, pardon these ittw criticisms, as they are offer- 

 ed solely in the interest of Botanical Science. —Thomas Meehan. 



An Exchange Fraud. — For the benefit of others engaged in col- 

 lecting and exchanging I would like to expose one Willie F. Wamble, 

 of Raleigh, N. C, whose plan is to get plants sent him for which the 

 sender gets only promises in return. Botanists who have no dupli 

 cates to throw away, will save them by steering clear of him. Not 

 only has he defrauded me of a lot of ferns, but I have it from good 

 authority in Raleigh, N. C . that he is not reliable — R. H. Wildber- 

 GER, Prof. Nat. Sciences Ky. Mil. lust., Fanndale, Ky. 



Botany TO THE Aid OF Geology. — "The little facts of science, 

 seemingly trifling, are often of great value in deciding greater ques 

 tions or, at least, ones deemed of more importance by the human rac«-. 

 On Kerguelen's Island, a tract 4,000 miles west of Cape Horn, our 

 common fern {Polypodium viilgarc) is found. Other plants common to 

 America are also found there. It is considered out of the question 

 that they had their original home center there, and it is deemed highly 

 improbable that they could have been carried there by any agency 

 now existing. The only suggestion deemed within probability is that 

 there must in the past have been a land connection between these 

 points, now four thousand miles apart. This vvas Dr. Hooker's view, 

 when he visited the Island and noted these plants many years ago. 

 Geographers connected with the 'Challenger" expedition have now 

 come to the same conclusion with the botanist, from an entirely ditifer- 

 ent line of reasoning. There are several plants on the Island found 

 no where else. One of these (the Prifiglea aiitiscorbutica) is not only 

 special to the Island, but it is distinct from any known coniferous 

 plant, in having no powdery jjollen and no petals. And these facts 

 are taken to indicate that a long connecting line has been swept 

 away " — Independent. 



