274 The Botanical Gazette. [September, 



perature high (35° C.) The explanation seems to be that the respira- 

 tion of the tissues is sufficiently active to produce more C0 2 than 

 can be assimilated by the superficial chlorophyllous tissue. When the 

 temperature is reduced to 10 -15 , or when the intensity of the light is 

 increased, the CO s is not recognizable.— Cf. Compt. Rend. 112. 674. 



Brazil is to have an Agricultural and Mechanical College. A syn- 

 dicate of capitalists has already secured a fund of $200,000 for its en- 

 dowment, and the state and general governments will aid it. It is to 

 be located in Sao Paulo, under the Tropic of Capricorn, in the best 

 part of the Republic. Its promoters expect to make it the largest in- 

 stitution of the kind in existence. Professor L. H. Bailey has been 

 tendered the presidency. The offer is a very flattering one, not only 



in a financial way, but also in the opportunity for work in a splendid 

 flora. 



A useful souvenir was presented to the botanists by the Forestry 

 Division of the Department of Agriculture. It contained a list of 

 the trees to be found in the various parks of Washington with maps 

 that serve as a complete direction. The souvenir is a curiosity in 

 the matter of synonymy; containing also the description of a new 

 species, a single specimen of winch is now growing on the grounds of 

 the Agricultural Department, but whose nativity no one knows, it fur- 

 thermore raises the question whether describing a plant in a souvenir 

 is publication. 



In connection with Dr. Halsted's note (p. 266) on the influence of 

 copper salts on germination, a recent paper of O. Loew 1 on the pois- 

 onous action of distilled water is of interest. Such an action has been 

 observed in the case of several Algae, notably Spirogyra. Nageli de- 

 termined that this was due to the traces (1 : 10,000,000) of copper 

 derived from the distillation apparatus and presumably dissolved as 

 carbonate. The poisonous action is not exerted by water distilled in 

 glass vessels, nor after the distillation of the first 2s liter seven from 



metal apparatus. 



Keteleeria 



net Larr., a monotypic Conifer. In a preliminary note * he shows that 

 the primary root is diarchous and contains a large pith, in the middle 

 ot which is a resin iferous duct of considerable size ; similar ducts are 

 also irregularly s< -uttered in the secondary wood; besides that the sec- 

 ondary bark shows several mucilage-cells {idioblasH mucipari). In con- 

 trast to the root, the stem has resiniferons ducts and mucilage-cells in 

 its primary bark and wood, but none in the secondary. The leaves 

 have only stomates on their inferior face. The mesophvll shows three 

 zones : a palisade tissue of two rows of perpendicular cells, a pneu- 

 matic tissue of about three rows of rather irregular cells, which form 



arge lacunes and finally an uncolored conductive tissue, surrounding 

 fSnnHkV"" 8 >undle ,t Two resiniferons ducts and some very large, 

 m n r n nVi 1 ^ f " Ce 1S r Ver , e obs «ved in the leaves, especially distinct 



in tangential or longitudinal sections.— T. H 



< I ml, J hrb 20. 235. (I nl 



Umaano del R. Institute botan o di Rom,, anno IV. l8«. 



