376 BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 
large, but the enlargement begins during germination, before the ants attack it, 
an instance of a plant preparing beforehand for expected guests. It is said 
that seedling plants which fail to become inhabited perish. Dr. Gray, in a re- 
view, says that “it is most supposable that this extraordinary formation was 
acquired gradually; that the normally fleshy caulicle of the ancestral plant, 
made a nidus by an insect, developed under the disturbing stimulus somewhat 
as a gall develops, until at length the tendency became hereditary and the sin- 
gular adaptation af plant to insect was established.” 
E SUDDEN DEATH of Hon. George W. Clinton, of Albany, N. Y., was 
quarter of a mile from the odge. Of late he had manifested a great interest im 
the study of botany, and when here before it was his custom to follow his favor- 
ite study in the cemetery. Last ring he was a frequent visitor. This alter” 
CURRENT LITERATURE. 
Talks Afield about Plants and the Science of Plants. By L. H. Bailey, Jr. PP. 
1x, 173, 12mo. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 
It is a most praiseworthy desire to present the truths of science correctly 
to the great mass of people who have neither time nor talent to study for th — 
selves. The press to ay in its “scientific columns” has done much to disse™ 
i h 
rve 
topics presented are such as follow: the flow 
