1 889. J BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 1 33 



there can be no doubt that if suitable facilities are afforded, the author 

 will make, in due time, an equally valuable contribution to this phase of 

 the subject. 



Minor Notices. 



It is a great gain to botanical science when botanico-chemical questions 

 are treated by an investigator trained in both botanical and chemical meth- 

 ods. Such foundation for work has enabled Dr. W. E. Stone, now of the 

 experiment station of Tennessee, to carry out an interesting and import- 

 ant study of arabinose. 2 This substance is found in gum arabic, but that 

 used was from the gum that exudes from cherry trees. It was found, 

 contrary to the views of other investigators, to belong to a series distinct 

 from that of the true sugars, and unlike them to give a reaction for fur- 

 furol when heated with sulphuric acid. The work involved the employ- 

 ment of a method for the pure culture of yeast, and a study of the condi- 

 tions of a successful fermentation, already referred to in this journal. 



An interesting paper on the paleontological history of the genus 

 Platanus, by Prof. L. F. Ward, has recently been distributed as an excerpt 

 from the Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum. 3 It shows that this 

 small genus of only seven existing species was at its zenith in the Creta- 

 ceous and Tertiary periods. A prominent characteristic of the archaic 

 forms is the basal lobes of the leaves, now only occasionally met with on 

 young shoots. By means of these lobes and the venation of the leaves 

 the genetic relationship is pointed out between several fossil forms re- 

 ferred to different genera and their living representatives. 



M. P. Maury has prepared an enumeration 4 of the Cyperaceae col- 

 lected in Ecuador and New Grenada by Andre. Previous reports upon 

 other orders have called attention to the richness of the collection of M. 

 Andre\ The present list comprises 58 species, of which two of Cyperus, 

 one of Dichromena, and one of Rhynchospora are new. The paucity of 

 Carices is quite remarkable. The reprint is re-paged, a most reprehen- 



sible practice, as it seems to us, and one for which there is not the slight- 

 est excuse. 



3 Stone, Winthrop E.— Investigations concerning arabinose and some related sub- 

 stances. 26 pp., 8vo. Knoxville, 1889. 



3 L. c, 1888, p. 39, plates xvii-xxii ; also abstract in Proc. Am. Assoc. Adv. Sci., vol. 

 *"vii, p. 201. 



♦Maury, P.— Lea Cyperaeees de l'Ecuador et de la Nouvelle-Grenade de la collec- 

 tion de M. Ed. Andre. Reprint from Journal de Botanique for Nov. 16 and Dec. 1. 188 

 Imp. 8vo., pp. 11. par . J. Mersch. 18S9. 



