1918] EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 125 



AGRICULTURAL BOTANY. 



Dictionary of plant names, H. L. Gerth van Wijk {The Hague: Martinus 

 Nijhoff, vol. 1, 1011, pp. XXIV+lJiU-\-V; vol. 2, 1916, pp. XXXIII+1696).— 

 Volume 1 of this dictionary, which is published by the Dutch Society of Sciences 

 at Haarlem, gives the English, French, German, and Dutch names of plants, the 

 arrangement being according to the scientific names of the plants. 



The second volume is an index of alphabetically arranged common names with 

 their scientific equivalents. Native and local names are also freely given. 



Notes on new or rare species of Ravenelia, W. H. Long {Bot. Gas., 64 

 {1911), No. 1, pp. 57-69). — To the new species of Ravenelia which he has pre- 

 viously recorded (E. S. R., 36, p. 145) the author now adds R. Jioffmanseggiw, 

 R. siderocarpi, and R. prosopidis. He also discusses R. rcemcrianw, R. mesil- 

 lana, R. siliqce, R. aiistralis, R. gracilis, and R. leiicwnw. 



Plants, seeds, and currents in the West Indies and Azores, H. B. Guppy 

 {London: Williams and Norgate, 1911, pp. XII-\-531, pis. 4). — The observations 

 reported as carried out in association with the author's work on seeds and fruits 

 which has been noted previously (E. S. R., 27, p. 729), extended over a period 

 of about eight years. He has also drawn freely for illustrative data upon the 

 contributions of others, lists of which are furnished. An extended study was 

 made of the stranded seed and fruit drift of the West Indian region and of 

 that on European shores as a means of approach to the problems of plant dis- 

 tribution. The similarity between the African and the West Indian littoral 

 floras is explained in connection with what is known of ocean currents in this 

 region. He holds, as a most important teaching from his study, that living 

 plants afford testimony which is often as insistent as is that of the rocks as 

 to past changes in the arrangement of land and water. 



Observations on a new type of artificial osmotic cell, J. Rosett {Plant 

 World, 20 {1911), No. 2, pp. 31-51, figs. 3).— The author describes a modification 

 of Traube's cell for the illustration and study of osmotic phenomena. This 

 modification is said to be adaptable and convenient. 



Into a mixture of the solutions of sodium silicate and sodium salicylate a 

 crystal of potassium permanganate is dropped. The quick formation and rup- 

 ture of the sac which develops around the crystal is followed by the formation 

 of a protuberance which becomes elongated into a stem, the structure, behavior, 

 and management of which are discussed. 



The osmotic concentration of the tissue fluids of Jamaican montane rain 

 forest vegetation, J. A. Haeris and J. V. Lawrence {Amer. Jour. Bot., 4 

 {1911), No. 5, pp. 268-29S). — This paper, the second of a series dealing with 

 problems of osmotic concentrations in plant tissue fluids (E. S. R.. 33, p. 628), 

 presents determinations of the freezing point lowering of extracted leaf sap of 

 plants from the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, discusses the differences noted in 

 connection with local differences in the environmental complex, and briefly com- 

 pares the series as a whole with others now available. 



The results of the present study (though showing less marked contrasts) are 

 said to confirm the conclusions drawn from investigations of the deserts of 

 southern Arizona as regards the existence of a higher osmotic pressure in the 

 tissue fluids from the leaves of ligneous plants than in those from herbaceous 

 plants. The four subhabitats recognized in the Blue Mountains show distinct 

 differences in the concentration of their tissue fluids. The ruinate, regarded 

 as the most xerophytic of the habitats, shows a distinctly higher concentration 

 of leaf tissue fluids than does any other habitat. The ridge forest, the leeward 

 ravines, the windward ravines and slopes, and the windward habitats form a 

 descending series as regards sap concentration. 



