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92 
the apex of the main stem. On account of this, and other 
features, it may be considered as a “ connecting-link ” between 
living and fossil cycads. Unfortunately the specimens of this 
species received by the Garden did not carry any cones. 
The genus Bowenia, which also belongs to the cycad family 
(Cycadaceae), comprises only two known species, B. Spectabilis 
and B. serrulata, both of which differ in several characters from 
all other cycads, but noticeably in having their leaves twice 
pinnately compound instead of pinnately compound. It has 
never been collected outside of Queensland, Australia. 
The green, shiny leaves lose water very slowly, and are said 
to be able to withstand the direct heat of a tropical sun for 
several days after being removed from the plant, and supplied 
with no moisture. The cones are borne on upright branches that 
grow from the top of the underground main stem. Professor 
Chamberlain, who first described B. serrulata as a distinct 
species, records a case of an underground stem of Bowenia that 
lay under a well-beaten path leading to a house in Queensland, 
and then resumed activity, putting forth a crop of leaves after 
having been dormant for twenty years. It would not be surpris- 
ing that a plant with such powers of drought-resistance might 
readily recover after a journey of only seven months without 
water. 
All of these cycads are not only a valuable acquisition to our 
living collections from the botanical point of view, but will be- 
come objects of great beauty and popular interest. 
Cree 
REORGANIZATION OF THE BROOKLYN INSTITUTE 
One of the sources of strength of the Brooklyn Institute of 
Arts and Sciences is the fact that its development through more 
than half a century has represented a normal, healthy growth 
and expansion in harmony with the changing ideas and ideals 
of the times. Starting in 1823 as a free library for apprentices, 
it became, in 1843, the Brooklyn Institute, and organized a system 
of public lectures on various phases of science and art. Re- 
covering from a period of financial stress, it was reorganized in 
