402 : BOTANICAL GAZETTE [MAY 
specimens are brought gradually into absolute alcohol. They are then 
slowly infiltrated (8 days) with celloidin, and the blocks hardened in 70% 
alcohol (one day), and in a mixture of one part 70% alcoho] and ten parts 
glycerin (at least two days). Sections are cut 20-254 in thickness, stained 
with “ Hamalaun” and mounted in balsam.— W. C. STURGIS. 
DURING THE Last four years contributions to our knowledge of 
gymnosperms have accumulated remarkably. In rgor the reviewer had 
occasion to bring together the literature of the group in his preparation of 
the Morphology of gymnosperms (Morphology of spermatophytes, part I), but 
the record of that volume is very scanty in comparison with the material now 
available. This focusing of attention has not been along morphological lines 
alone, but has included the work of anatomists and paleobotonists as well. 
The initial part of a series of papers dealing with the comparative anatomy 
and phylogeny of the Coniferales by E. C. Jeffrey,3° has just made its appear- 
ance, and promises to be of great service in connection with the phylogeny 
of a group whose relationships are very obscure. The genus Sequoia was 
chosen for the first memoir both because it is the sole survivor of a group 
once extensively displayed, and also because of its possible transition charac- 
ters. One of the recognized peculiarities of the genus is the absence of resin 
ducts, but they have now been found in S. gigantea in all parts of the ovulate 
shoot, in the first annual ring of vigorous branches of adult trees, and in the 
leaf traces of very vigorous leaves of adult trees, In 5S. sempervirens resin 
ducts are entirely absent from these regions as well as all others; but in both 
species resin ducts appear in tangential rows in the wood of root and shoot 
as a result of injury to the tissues. The conclusion is reached that these 
resin ducts are an ancestral feature of Sequoia, and point strongly to the 
derivation of the genus from an abietineous stuck, a stock which may have 
been ancestral to the living genera of the Abietineae as well. Morphologists 
have regarded the Abietineae as a relatively modern group of Coniferales, 
with Pinus as probably the most modern genus; but now the evidence of 
paleobotany and of anatomy is against this view, and morphologists are 
called upon to change their conceptions. The evidence is becoming increas- 
ingly clear that purely morphological systems of phylogeny are extremely 
uncertain.— J. M.C. °, ; 
ITEMS OF TAXONOMIC INTEREST are as follows: M. L. FERNALD 
(Rhodora 6: 34-41. 1904), in presenting a list of New England Juncaceae, 
has established two new species and a variety, and has discussed /. dufonius 
and its representatives in America.—OaKEs AMES (idem 27-31. p/. 57) has 
described a new Spiranthes of rather extensive range in the Atlantic region, 
often confused with S. Araecox Watson of the southern states; and has also 
36 JEFFREY, EDWARD C., The comparative anatomy and phylogeny of the Conif- 
erales. Parl I.—The genus Sequoia. Mem. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 5: 441-459. £/s. 
68-71. 1903. : 
