DEPARTMENT OF BOTANICAL RESEARCH. 97 



which had no outlet. This suggests that in time we may be able to 

 assign approximately correct dates to all the score or more of strands 

 around the various lakes. This will go far toward giving a correct 

 time-scale for the climatic variations of post-glacial time. 



In addition to this, the character of the various strands gives a clue 

 to the kind of climate prevalent at anj^ particular period. For example, 

 the strand of 1350 A. D. indicates particularly stormy conditions with 

 phenomenally high winds, a conclusion which agrees with historic 

 accounts of western Europe. 



The Death Valley Series, hy Ellsworth Huntington. 



As a basis for work in the immediate future, Death Valley furnishes 

 a pecuharly inviting field. The bottom of that deep depression has 

 alternately contained a lake or plaj^a, or has been dry for protracted 

 periods. The evidence of this is found in a series of thousands of feet 

 of clays alternating with gravels. Toward the end of the glacial period, 

 at a time not yet determined, these deposits w^ere uplifted and tilted 

 in such a way that they are exposed for many miles and can easily 

 be studied. A preliminary examination suggests that they present 

 a record of several glacial epochs preceding the four which are usually 

 recognized as constituting the last glacial period. There has not yet 

 been time to work out the full series, nor to ascertain whether any beds 

 are repeated by faulting. It is certain, however, that the deposits 

 point to even greater cUmatic complexity than is indicated by the phe- 

 nomena of glaciation. The only known series at all comparable is the 

 uplifted lake beds of Seistan in eastern Persia, which are described in 

 * 'Explorations in Turkestan." The Death Valley beds are better than 

 those at Seistan, for they are thicker and pass into solid rock at their 

 base. The change from soft clays to solid rock, together with other 

 changes which take place at that point, suggest not only that the end 

 of the Tertiary era was marked by a great transition, as is generally 

 recognized, but that the transition was extremely rapid and that the 

 biological effect must have been correspondingly intense. Further 

 study of these beds from the physical, chemical, and biological consid- 

 erations is of the greatest importance. 



GENETICS AND VARIOUS SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS. 



Transmission or Recurrence of Environic Effects in Phytolacca, 

 hy Francis E. Lloyd. 



Certain effects, such as distortion and discoloration of fohage 

 (obtained at Carmel) and morphological alterations of inflorescences 

 and contained structures (obtained at Tucson), allowed the test of 

 their inheritability. (See report for 1914.) The fu'st generation from 

 plants with abnormal foliage has shown no indication that the condi- 

 tion is inherited. On the other hand, one individual of the parent 



