2ig BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 



ous, m a long, rather dense spike ; lateral sepals linear-oblong, 4 lines 

 long, the upper ovate ; lip linear or linear-lanceolate, entire, 

 rather acute, nearly a half inch long, shorter than the spur ; anther 

 retuse ; pedicels of the pollen masses slender ; glands orbicular ; capsule 

 obl'ng, 6-8 lines long, sessile ; root fleshy-fibrous. 



Dry southward slopes of the Pinos Altos Mountains, New Mexico, 

 in open woods of Pinus ponderosa, in flower September 14th, 1880, 



A striking species, in floral character most like H. sparsiflom, 

 Watson, which grows by shady streamlets in the same region, but of 

 very different habit, being nearly leafless, the foliage reduced to mere 

 loosely sheathing bracts, their tips only somewhat leafy-spreading, and 

 the stout stems flowering from near the ground — Edward Lee 

 Greene. 



Peltandra Virs^iniea. — it is worth noting, if it has not already 

 been done in some of our botanical serials, that Rafinesque in es- 

 tablishing the genus distinguished two species, P. Virginica and P. 

 undulata. Modern botanists have accepted the former, and reduced 

 the latter to a synonym. In the recent monograph of Aracea by Eng- 

 ler P. undulata is restored to its distinctive position. Engler re- 

 marks that it has some similarity to P. Virginica, but differs in the in- 

 florescence. The peduncle is shorter, not much longer than the 

 petiole, the tube of the spathe is oblong not subfusiform, 

 and the lamina of the spathe wholly green with no white any- 

 where about it. The female portion of the spadix is one-fourth to 

 one-fifth the length of the male, while in P. Virginica it is two-thirds, 

 and the ovarium is few-, rarely one-ovuled, while P. Virginica has 

 never more than one. Both forms have been freely distributed as P. 

 Virginica. The true P. undulata has been noted in specimens of 

 Canby from Delaware, Boott from Boston, Schweinitz from Pennsyl- 

 vania, Porcher from South Carolina, and Rugel from the foot of the 

 Black Mountains in North Carolina. Both species seem about equally 

 distributed geographically. — T. M. 



Cllloropliyll. — In Nature for April 14 Mr. Sydney H. Vines 

 givesan interesting review of the results of Dr. Pringsheim's investiga- 

 tions into the nature and function of this puzzling substance. Dr. 

 Pringsheim some tmie ago startled physiologists by announcing that 

 chlorophyll was not the direct agent of assimilation, but rather a 

 screen for protoplasm which in the light thus subdued did the work. 

 Of course such a careful and conscientious investigator must have had 

 some sure ground to stand upon and hence this subject of the forma- 

 tion ot chlorophyll has attracted a good deal of attention. These later 

 observations, referred to by Mr. Vines, are considered by Dr. Prings- 

 heim as confirming the views he had before expressed. 



It may be of interest to our laboratory workers to know that Dr. 

 Pringsheim has been using a new method of treating chlorophyll cor- 

 puscles. He treats them with a dilute acid, or warms them in water, 

 or exposes them to the action of steam. The result is that chloro- 



