BOTANY. 28 



the plum iind chcrrv tho proxinuil ilowci- is developed slightly iii 

 advance of the others, and the flower cluster in this case corresponds 

 to the usual definition of a corvnib. 



Comparative hardiness of flo^ver buds in the cherry, E. S. Goff 

 ( Wiscons'iii Sta. Rpt. 1899^ JW- ^83-288^ figs. i3). — A rather protracted 

 cold period occurred in P^ebruary, 1899, and on account of the low tem- 

 perature the effect on flower buds of cherry trees was investigated with 

 considerable interest. Early in April a large numlier of buds of each 

 variety of cherry grown in the orchard were examined and several 

 important facts brought out. It was found that the central flower 

 buds contained a larger percentage of live cmbr3^o flowers than those 

 near the ends of the })ranches, and the percentage of live embr3^o 

 flowers increased as the number of flowers in the bud diminished. 

 This was true ))oth on the same tree and in different varieties. But 

 little difference was noted between the hardiness of the basal and 

 terminal buds on the fruit spur. 



It is stated that windbreaks would doul)tl(\ss prevent the destruction 

 of many flowers from the injurious efi'ects of prevailing winds in severe 

 weather, and varieties of Morello species of cherrj^, in which the num- 

 ber of em])ryo flowers in the flower ])ud is comparatively small, are 

 more likely to prove hardy than those in which the number is com- 

 parativelv large. 



Yello-w coloring matters accompanying chlorophyll and their 

 spectroscopic relations, C A. Sciiunck (I'/vc. Roij. Sue. [Loii- 

 d(m\, 65 {1899), No. UG.jyp. 177-185, pi. i).— The author reports on 

 studies made of tho 3'ellow coloring matters which are extracted by 

 means of alcohol along with the chlorophyll in healthy green leaves. 

 He concludes that in all crude alcoholic extracts from healthy green 

 leaves 2 yellow coloring matters accompany the chlorophyll; one, 

 chrysophyll, which deposits out of the extracts on standing in lus- 

 trous red cr^'stals, often in very small (piantity; the other obtained l)y 

 treating the extract with animal charcoal, the charcoal taking up the 

 chlorophyll and leaving the yellow solution, which deposits on spon- 

 taneous evaporation an amorphous substance containing much fatty 

 matter, to which the author has restricted the name xanthophyll. 

 Another yt^low coloring matter is sometimes found along with xan- 

 thophyll which gives no absorption bands, onl}^ an obscuration in 

 the ultraviolet region of the spectrum being noticed. There is also 

 evidence of still other coloring matters which have not yet been 

 separated. 



The author believes that xanthophyll is the predominating yellow 

 coloring matter accompanying chlorophyll in the healthy green leaf, 

 and that it is identical with the principal yellow coloring matter occur- 

 ring in autunm leaves. The absorption bands of the different color- 

 ing matters are described at some length. 



