ipo/] CURRENT LITERATURE 387 



MINOR NOTICES 



Gulf biologic station. — ^This station was established in 1903 by the state of 

 Louisiana at the mouth of the Cameron River. The region is about at sea-level 

 and practically treeless, the station itself being on a ridge running parallel to 

 the sea and traversing a salt marsh. The plants of this very interesting locality 

 have been published in a catalogue prepared by R. S. Cocks.^ In addition to 

 the list of species of the immediate vicinity, there are notes on certain species 

 of the prairie region of southwestern Louisiana. — J. M. C. 



Das Pflanzenreich.5 



liminary 



OTlaceae by O. E. Schitlz 



geographical distribution, tie,, the sjTiopsis of the family is presented. Besides 

 the monotypic genus Aneulophus, the family contains only the large genus Ery- 

 throxylum, which is credited with 193 species, 41 of which are described as new. 

 The author breaks up the genus into 19 sections, to each of which a name is 

 given.— J, M, C, 



Key to trees and shrubs. — Coulter and Dorkee'^ have published a con- 

 venient untechnical key to the genera of trees and shrubs of Indiana and the 

 neighboring states, based chiefly upon leaf characters. A previous edition, now 

 exhausted, was restricted to the forest trees, but the value of the present edition 

 is much increased by including the shrubs. — J. M. C. 



NOTES FOR STUDENTS 



Mendelian inheritance. — Davenport^ in a lecture before the Washington 

 Academy of Sciences discussed Mendelian inheritance in the light of his studies 

 on poultry. After saying that '^expectation has been so often realized that 

 Mendel's law ha5 gained deserved fame as the most important law of inheritance 

 yet enunciated," he proceeds to give a few non-conformable cases, and concludes 

 that there must be some more mclusive law. This he calls the "law of potency," 

 the gist of which may be given in his own words thus: "Between the two extremes 

 of equipotency and allelopotency lies the great mass of heritable characteristics 

 which when opposed in heredity exhibit varying degrees of potency," It is not 

 clear why this should be called a law; it seems rather to be a denial that any 

 law exists. Some cases similar to those cited have been found to conform with 



-» Cocks, R. S., The flora of the Gulf biologic station. Baton Rouge: La. State 

 Board of Agric. and Immigration, Bulletin 7. pp. 42- 1907. 



s Engler, a. Das Pflanzenreich. Heft 29, Erythrox}'Iaceae von O. E. ScmjLZ- 

 pp- 176. figs, j2 (297). Leipzig: Wilhehn Engehnann. 1907. If 8.80. 



^ CoxJLTER, Stanley, and Dorner, Herman B., A key to the genera of the 

 native forest trees and shrubs of Indiana, pp. 24. Lafayette: The Authors. 1907. 20 



cents. 



7 Davenport 

 9:179-188. 1907. 



Proc. Wash. Acad. Sci. 



