PLANT DISPERSION BY THE BUFFALO. 47 
view is correct the leaves were originally pinnate, the 
present blade being the enlarged terminal lobe, a form 
common in rosaceous genera. 
PLANT DISPERSION BY THE BUFFALO. 
To make exhibition of the emptiness and the fictitiousness 
of what may otherwise pass for scientific literature with fact 
for its substance is no desirable task; but we have long been 
persuaded that a systematic expurgation of current botanical 
literature, by plain and unsparing criticism of a certain class 
of writings, ought to be inaugurated; hence the review 
article, to which the subjoined letter bears reference. 
The letter, L assume, was not intended for publication; for 
the modest author of it would not have deemed it of suffi- 
cient importance; and, as the distance between him and us 
precludes the waiting for his written consent, we take the 
liberty of presenting his instructive and serviceable sentences, 
witholding his locality and signature. EB. 6.2%. 
———— 10 Jan.,. 1898. 
Prorressor Epwarp Lrse GREENE, 
Berkeley, California. 
Dear Sir:—I must write and tell you with how keen an 
appreciation I read in the January number of Eryrsea your timely 
review of the article by Edward L. Berthoud, which appeared in the 
Botanical Gazette for October last, entitled “A Peculiar Case of Plant 
Dissemination.” Such an article as this by Mr. Berthoud is a discredit 
to any reputable botanical journal, and deserves indeed to be severely 
handled. 
It can not be denied, however, that theoretically the buffalo, in their 
annual migrations, ought to have been efficient agents in plant disper- 
sion north and south. I once held the opinion myself; and in the 
course of my numerous expeditions across the country that lies between 
the Red River of the North and Yellowstone, IT have examined a 
many buffalo wallows, in hope of finding there species of plants foreign 
to the general flora of the surrounding plains. But with a single excep- 
