TERATOLOGICAL NOTES. 19 
TropmoLum magus, Linn. Unusually good examples of 
reversion in the flowers of this species were recently sent to 
the herbarium of the University from Napa, Cal., by Miss 
Cornwell, a former student of botany here. Reversion in 
the flowers of this species is said to be not uncommon, still 
we think it is not often that the petals are replaced by per- 
fectly peltate leaves of the ordinary type, as is the case in 
our example. The pistil is represented by three petiolate 
leaves, which, however, are scarcely peltate. These three 
leaves grow from the apex of a stipe which projects about 
three-eighths of an inch beyond the place of insertion of the 
other transformed floral organs. 
Tropeolum is not mentioned by Masters among the plants 
in which phyllody of pistils has been noticed. 
MarsHaLL A. Howe. 
REVIEWS AND CRITICISMS. 
A Peculiar Case of Plant Dissemination. By Epwarp L. 
Berruoup. Bot. Gaz. xvii, 321-326. 
To deduce wise-sounding conclusions from the premises of 
a very few facts, though not a new mode of exercise for the 
human mind, is becoming notably prevalent, if not actually 
within the domain of modern science, at least along the 
borders of that realm. During the past year I seem to 
have noticed that an increased number of speculators along 
the scientific border-land, have managed to figure somewhere 
as scientific writers. The article above named furnishes a 
remarkable case in point, and will repay inspection. The 
writer’s leading proposition may be given in his own words: 
“T ean show to some extent that, between the Missouri River 
and the Rocky Mountains, the American buffalo has been an 
efficient agent in plant dissemination.” 
It is everywhere known that, through the settlement of any 
new country by a civilized people, domesticated animals 
