1888. | BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 325 
Verbascece are didynamous, and it is evidently of that type. The corolla 
has become so shallow as to expose the stamens so that insects cotld 
- light upon them, and the fifth stamen has resumed its antheriferous 
function. The enlargement of the lower lobe and the ee length of 
the stamens, instead of indicating an incipient stage, as the author sup- 
poses, refer rather toa former condition. Although it ‘i evident that 
natural selection must act, at least until after dissemination, we are told, 
in chap. xxxii, that “the principal period of the struggle for life takes 
place in the seedling stage, before any varietal and specific characters 
have appeared.” The search for the reason of the author's views is re- 
warded in this chapter, where we read: “I must confess, it (natural selec- 
tion) conveys nothing definite to my mind.” Having observed that in- 
sects have something to do with the forms of flowers, the author is thus 
under the subjective necessity of referring these forms to their direct in- 
stead of their selective influence. However, the book can not be said to 
be without an important theoretical bearing, since it tends to support the 
view that but for the principle of selection the theory of evolution would 
be where Lamarck left it—R. 
eee 
NOTES AND NEWS. 
A VvoLUME on the folk-lore of nib by T. F. Thiselton Dyer, is an- 
me tha from the press of Appleton & Co. 
E BoTANISCHES CENTRALBLATT, which has for so long been pub- 
lished b i Theodor Fischer, has been transferred to the house of the Gebrii- 
der Gotthelft. 
. FRANK LEEDS reports Euphorbia peplus as spreading rapidly 
in Santa Clara county, Califor ay E. Lathyris, in the same region, at- 
tains a height of six or seven fee 
to note se one-fourth the present membership o 
ee P asabiine of Sarin Science is composed of 
botanists, and that a large a part as one-third of the papers printed in 
the proceedings for 1888 are ybotanie . 
tion a manual of palzobotany, 
pesahaplle lay? a apn the end of the following 
y The work will be er from American a areal far as 
sible, and will give an accoun 
genera, of fossil mae nts. 
THE WES 
Illinois, Onioher 24 and on A number of aber to 
the teaching of botany. e 
part in the dicumiede: _C. Arthur, Purdue Univer sity ; st Hi , 
Agricultural College of Michigan; is oe “i ey Rooney dod c aiees 
: : . 
DE OY oe Papier Phomas McBride, eT University; 
University ; 
ey es ta a: eg ame il Robertson, Carlinville 
