Knuth gives an interesting summary of the method he has 

 adopted to detect the presence of a nectary when the position of 

 that organ is not obvious at first sight. By suitable treatment of 

 flowers with Fehling's solution or Hoppe-Seyler's sugar reagent, he 

 was able to detect the nectar-secreting part oi most flowers. Some- 

 times even fairly conspicuous flowers, as, for instance, those of 

 Pyrola unijlora, were found to be nectarless, and in this case, 

 though the flower is otherwise obviously adapted to insect pollina- 

 tion, no insect visitors are recorded in the handbook. 



Some of the "orders, like the Ericaceae and others are of interest, 

 because in some genera, e. g., Calluna, Erica, and Cyclamen, the 

 flowers, though adapted to insect pollination, and eagerly visited by 

 insects, are, during their later stages, anemophilous, the pollen be- 

 coming dry and powdery and being readily carried by the wind. 



The anemophilous Gramineae offer many points of interest in 

 connection with the frequent occurrence of cleistogamy and self- 

 pollination of their flowers. Insect visits are occasionally observed 

 in this group. Ludwig considered that the succulent shining lo- 

 dicules of many grasses sometimes attract flies which are often 

 imprisoned by the rapid closing of the glumes. These flies seem 

 often affected by the entomophthora disease, and it is suggested 

 that when so suffering they are often compelled by thirst to seek 

 the juice of the lodicules. In other cases, no doubt, they visit the 

 flowers for the purpose of collecting pollen. 



This translation is enriched by a valuable appendix which gives 

 a systematic list of the various insects which have been observed 

 visiting flowers and the flowers they frequent. 



A. W. SUTTON. Crossing of the genus " Brassica." (Linnean 

 Society Journal, Botany, October 1908). Bied. Zentralblatt fiir 

 Agrikulturchemie, 39, pp. 23-25, Jan. 1910. 



A crossing between the various species of the genus Brassica, 

 which are indiscriminately cultivated together, was believed un- 

 attainable ; but now, the author's experiments show the possibility of it. 



H. H. BIFIEN. On the inheritance of strength in wheat. - 



The Journ. of Agric. Science, Vol. Ill, P. I, Dec. 1908 (issued 

 Jan. 1909), p. 86-101. 



