37 
Mycology.—Under Dr. Olive’s direction Mr. Bisby has made a 
study of certain problems in connection with plant rusts, has col- 
lected and carried along numerous cultures of the Myxomycetes 
(slime-moulds), for the purpose of securing material for study of 
the life history of these lowly organisms, and has made progress in 
a study of certain phases in the life history of Cyathus, one of 
the bird’s-nest fungi. A preliminary report on this latter work 
was presented for Mr. Bisby by Dr. Olive, at the 1913-1914 At- 
lanta meeting of the Botanical Society of America. 
Plant Breeding.—Dr. White has carried through pedigreed cul- 
tures of a number of different plants as material for his studies in 
experimental evolution and plant breeding, and of fundamental 
principles which underlie heredity. Studies which he began in the 
Bussey Institution, before his appointment to the Garden staff, 
have been partly prepared for publication. This work will appear 
under the general title, “ Studies of teratological phenomena in 
their relation to evolution and the problems of heredity,” and the 
first paper, with the sub-title, “ A study of certain floral abnormal- 
ities in Nicotiana, and their bearing on theories of dominance,” 
will appear in the first (January, 1914) number of the new 
American Journal of Botany. 
Plant Physiology—In connection with his graduate work at 
Columbia University, Mr. Adlerblum has begun, under the super- 
vision of the director of the Garden, a study of certain problems 
of digestion in the potato tuber. 
A brief investigation has been made by the director of the Gar- 
den, of the value of a certain commercial compound purported to 
be radioactive, as a stimulus to the growth of crops. If the addi- 
tion of a radioactive substance to the soil would substantially in- 
crease the yield of crops, and could be accomplished at a cost that 
was not prohibitive, the discovery of this fact and of such a com- 
pound would be of very great economic importance. The brief 
experiments here alluded to have, so far, yielded only negative 
results. 
Publications of Members of Staff during 1913 
Gager, C. Stuart. School gardens in Ceylon. Brooklyn Bot. 
Gard. Record 2: 18-20. Ja 1913. 
Second annual report of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 
1912. dbid. 2: 25-45. Ap 1913. 

