snow which had recently fallen, and, as the birds plied, on eve 
branch, their unwearied task, a thin veil of snow was continually s j 
to the ground, and through it the bright colored beams of the neti 
risen sun cast a rosy light. The buds, terminal .and axillary, of the 
Norway spruce, are small, and the birds left on the tree the scalestt 
the lower half, extracting the rest to the very base of the bud. The 
144 The Botanical Gazette. : Wt 
reason for this would appear to be, that there is a natural,point a 
vision, half way between the base and the end of the bud, the scl 
on the lower half being, apparently. tougher and more firmly attached 
to the stem. The natural instinct and experience of the bird would 
teach him to attack the bud at the weakest point. From the base! 
the bud thus extracted, the bird would quickly pick out thestl 
nucleus of tender tissue, the germ of the next year’s growth of stema 
inflorescence. This growing point I found to be just the size of tt 
head of an ordinary pin, so that it is no wonder that the poor haa | 
grosbeak was not to be satisfied in a short time. oy 
The bird, having picked out this nucleus, would throw the remnie 
to the ground, and the snowy carpet beneath the trees was 
covered with bud scales, which were lying either separately of en 
shape of the little bud as it was picked from the tree. A at 1 
under the bud showed where the vegetative cone had once bee? 
carefully examined portions of one large spruce, and week of te 
find a single bud intact. I have heard that a judicious prog ie 
ivi 
a 
o 
hoped that they have already satisfied their boundless pierce i 
1 sl 
jon 
1893. 
EDITORIAL. 
ATTENTION should be called to the work of the standing hist 
of the American Association on Biological Nomenclature. ‘ sat 
mittee is the American representative of a proposed a froo” 
Committee, having been appointed in response to 4 2 exteo™ 
Australasian Association. The movement promises to be mpl 
as the original intention, and the American Committee, 
