232 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [September 



twenty-eight species, six of which are new; and Sanmela, a new genus com- 

 prising two species. Detailed synonymy, descriptions of numerous varieties, 

 and full discussions of relationships are presented. The plates for the most 

 part are reproductions of excellent photographs, showing habit and certam 

 details ; three plates are devoted to seeds, and twelve to geographic distribu- 

 tion. — -J. M. C. 



Verschaffelt^ has studied the occurrence of hydrocyanic acid in 

 developing shoots of Pruniis Padus and /*. LaurocerasuSy with the following 

 results : As the buds open and the shoot develops, the HCN-compounds 

 increase in amount as rapidly as do the other substances, so that the per- 

 centage amount of these compounds changes very little. It seems that these 

 hydrocyanic bodies appear independently of light, and that they are not 

 derived from the internode below the growing bud. In what form the 

 hydrocyanic acid occurs is not yet determined. That maceration is neces- 

 sary before complete distillation of the acid can occur would seem to indi- 

 cate the presence of some compounds which can be split by an enzyme. The 

 marked occurrence of benzaldehyde in the distillate from the developing 

 buds makes it probable that glucosides related to amygdalin are present, 



B. E. Livingston. 



A RECENT BULLETIN of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of 

 Soils, contains three valuable papers by Briggs and Lapham^ on soil physics. 

 Following are some of the conclusions : (i) dissolved salts in general do not 

 increase the capillary rise of soil waters ; (2) concentrated solutions of all 

 salts materially decrease capillary activity, but this effect is less marked with 

 sodium carbonate than with natural salts; (3) the capillary rise of water m 

 moist soil is much greater than in soil which was air-dry at the beginning of 

 the experiment; thus for sea-island soil it was found that the maximum rise 

 in dry soil was 37^"", while the limiting value of capillary movement in moist 

 soil was not less than 165^""; (4) suspended clay may be advantageously 

 separated from soil solutions by means of a porous clay filter tube and a com- 

 pressing air pump, the solution being forced through the filter by increased 



air pressure. — B. E. Livingston. 



A NEW SERIAL PUBLICATION has appeared, entitled University of Call- 

 fomia Publicaiiofts, Botany, and intended to be a series of original papers in 

 botany. Each volume will contain about 350 or 400 pages, and the subscrip- 

 tion price is S3. 50, the papers comprising those on general botany and West 

 Coast botany. Professor W. A, Setchell is the editor of the series. 



w 

 F 



+ VERSCHAFFELT, E., On the prussic acid in the opening buds of Prunus. 

 Koninkl. Akad. van Wetenoch. te Amsterdam. 31-41. (Je 25) 1902. 



sBriggs, L. J. and Lapham, M. H., Capillary studies and filtration of clay from 

 soil solutions. Bull. 19. Bureau of Soils, U. S. Dept. of Agric. 1902. 



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