l8 ^ I *J Current Literature . ' 87 



In the second place, the claim that no library is needed for such 

 work, and that all that one needs is a microscope, is a mischievously 

 false notion. It is far easier to-day to command a literature that will 

 enable one to do some systematic work upon the flora of North 

 America, than one which will enable an anatomist to properly discuss 

 an anatomical subject. The absence of references to literature (and 

 by this is not meant foot-note references) in such investigation leaves 

 the work " in the air." It is like shooting with a shotgun in the general 

 direction of the game in the hope of hitting something. If the inves- 

 tigator is not prepared to say what he has found that is new, no one else 

 is apt to take the trouble to do it for him. The sooner we can get rid of 

 the notion that a microscope is a magic instrument, which when 

 touched transforms one into an original investigator, the better. It is 

 just as magical as a hand-saw, of which tool one may possess a chest- 

 full, and yet not be a carpenter. 



CURRENT LITERATURE. 



The grasses of dry climates, 1 



The author of this paper calls attention to some hitherto unknown 

 peculiarities in the grasses of dry climates, among them being the 

 singular development of the lowest internodes of the culms, shoots 

 and basal leaves. He considers these characters just as important as 

 the interior structure of the leaves for adaptation to a dry climate. He 

 distinguishes: 1. tuberous and bulbous grasses; and 2. tunic-grasses. 

 Tuberous grasses are such as Phleum prate?ise var. nodosum Gaud, 

 and Arrhenatkerum avenaceum var. nodosum {Avena nodosa L.), of 

 which one or more of the basal internodes of the culm and shoots 

 attain a tuberous development, while Poa bulbosa L. represents a 

 bulbous grass, since here the bases of some of the sheaths of the leaves 

 have increased in thickness and form a bulb very much like that of an 

 Allium. The tuberous grasses are relatively rare in comparison with 



those whose culms are not thickened, a circumstance which has led 

 to their being ranked as mere varieties. Such forms are especially 

 prevalent in the Mediterranean countries. The same is also the case 

 with Poa bulbosa, which occurs more commonly in these countries 

 than further north. Besides the above mentioned, are the tuberous 



1 E. Hackel. — Ueber einige Eigenthuemlichkeiten der Graeser trockener Kli- 

 mate. — Verhandlungen der k. k. zool.-botan. Gesellsch. Wien, Jahrgang J SIX), 

 pp. 12.1-138. 



