151 



NEWS NOTES AND CURRENT COMMENT. 



Prof. Chas. V. Piper, who has been for several years actively 

 engaged in the collection and study of the Washington flora, has 

 been granted a year's leave of absence by the trustees of the 

 Washington Agricultural College, for investigation of the plants 

 of that state. His present address is the Gray Herbarium, Harvard 

 University. 



Dr. a. a. Tyler, formerly of Union College and Syracuse 

 University, has been elected Assistant Botanist at the University of 

 Arizona. Prof. W. J. Toumey, the Botanist at that place, will 

 during the current college- year spend one-half of his time in 

 Washington as a member of the Division of Forestry staff". 



We have received a new edition of the " Essentials of Vegetable 

 Pharmacognosy," under the title of " Morphology and Histology of 

 Plants." Part I, by Dr. H. H. Rusby, relates to the morphology 

 of plants; Part II, by Dr. S. E. Jeliffe, relates to plant histology. 

 This edition is very much enlarged and improved and we hope to 

 notice it further in a future issue of this Journal. [Published by 

 the authors, College of Pharmacy of the City of New York.] 



Contributions from the U. S. National Herbarium, Vol. V, 

 No. 4, bespeaks the scientific activity of Mr. J. N. Rose, Assistant 

 Curator, Division of Plants. The greater part of this number is 

 devoted to "Studies of Mexican and Central American Plants" and 

 particularly to a paper entitled "Notes on Useful Plants of 

 Mexico;" the result of observations made by the author while 

 traveling in Mexico in 1897. The food plants universally used are 

 Indian Corn, Red Peppers, Tomatoes, and Beans. The Pulque 

 Plant or Maguey (Agave atrovirens) is illustrated by reproductions 

 of some fine photographs, as also a number of fiber plants, native 

 tools used in extracting the fiber, and specimens of fiber products. 



Under the title of "New Plants from Wyoming," Prof. Aven 

 Nelson has contributed some five papers since the beginning of the 

 year to the pages of the Bulletin of the Torrey Club. The reprints 

 of No. VII, furnished to the author for distribution, by the 



