332 NATURAL SCIENCE. May. 



tion of plants is supplied by a paper by Miss Smith in the last issue 

 oi the Journal of ihe Linnean Society on the anatomy of a plant from 

 Senegambia. The plant is one of striking and unusual appearance, 

 but has neither flower nor fruit ; and suggestions as to its affinity 

 ranged from Lycopods and Conifers to Melastomaceae, Acanthaceae, 

 and Thymelaeaceae. In plain English, nobody could make it out. 

 Examination of the internal structure of the stem revealed the fact 

 that it belonged to the Dicotyledonous division of flowering plants, 

 while, according to the author, the occurrence of islands of soft 

 bast tissue in the wood, and groups of phloem at the periphery of 

 the pith " considerably narrows down the systematic limits within 

 which the plant must come." This notwithstanding, Miss Smith 

 is doubtful whether its affinity is with the Loganiaceae, Acanthaceae, 

 Peneaceae, Gentianaceae, or Melastomaceae — a somewhat wide range 

 — or even with any of these families. 



The Preservation of Herbaria. 



Botanists who dry plants may be glad to know of a time-saving 

 device suggested by C. Michener in Erythea (March). Elsewhere, 

 as in the climate of San Francisco, the problem is, how to dry your 

 driers ? for given a good supply of dry warm driers the rest is easy 

 in comparison. The method described is as follows : In one corner 

 of each drier, about an inch from its edges, a brass eyelet is 

 inserted ; through the eyelet is run a piece of light strong lish-line 

 twenty-five to thirty feet long. On each line are strung from seventy- 

 five to one hundred driers, which are kept from slipping off by a 

 small iron ring at the ends of the cord. The eyelets are of such a 

 size that the cord slips through them easily, and is no hindrance to 

 using the driers, which remain strung during the whole operation, 

 while laying the plant; piles, changing the driers, and drying them. 

 The outdoor part of the apparatus consists of several upright posts 

 about thirty feet apart, into which hooks are screwed at every two 

 feet. To dry a set of driers, the rings at the end of the cord are 

 slipped over the hooks, and the driers distributed along the cord. 

 Two posts can carry three or four lines, stretched one above the 

 other. To bring the driers in, and get them into a pile ready for the 

 next change, it is only necessary to push them along the line till 

 they are in contact, and then unfasten the rings from the hooks. 

 The author claims these advantages for his method : it does away 

 with half the labour of spreading the driers to dry, and nine-tenths 

 of the labour of picking them up when dried ; both sides of the drier are 

 exposed, and hence they do not come in contact with any surface, damp 

 from dew, frost, or moisture ; and the length of time required to dry 

 them is also reduced. In the case of a sudden shower, the driers can 

 be very quickly brought in, and there is no danger of their being 

 blown away. 



