Notes and Comments. 279 
surface slopes, its presence as an early invader in degenerate 
fields, and its development in many localities into a marginal 
belt. He concludes that the main factor in its distribution is 
the water supply, that as compared with Matt Grass it requires 
more water and compared with Cotton Grass it requires fresher, 
i.e., better aerated and less acid water. This conclusion is 
supported by the results of experiments on soil content and 
acidity, the method of determining soil acidity by titration 
being described. The last section deals with ‘seed’ dispersal, 
where we get a description of what is called ‘ sun-crack plant- 
ing,’ with the invasion of Molinia of Calluna moors and of woods 
with the closed association, with the plant as a peat former, 
and with the phenomena of retrogression. The paper is well 
illustrated by a map, one text figure and thirteen photographs. 
PHYLOGENY AND RELATIONSHIPS IN THE ASCOMYCETES. 
From Prof. G. F. Atkinson, of the Cornell University, we 
have received an interesting paper with the above heading, 
reprinted from the Annals of the Missouri Botanical Gardens. 
The author points out that perhaps there is no other large 
group of plants whose origin and phylogeny have given rise 
to such diametrically opposed hypotheses as the fungi. The 
presence of chlorophyll and the synthesis of carbohydrated 
from inorganic materials, are such general and dominant 
characteristics of plants, that many students regard them as 
the fundamental traits which primarily mark the divergence 
of plant from animal life. According to this hypothesis all 
plants possess chlorophyll, or were derived from chlorophyll- 
bearing ancestors. No one questions the origin of the chloro- 
phylless seed plants from chlorophyll bearing ones by the loss 
of chlorophyll and reduction of photosynthetic organs. What 
is more natural then, than the hypothesis that the fungi have 
been derived from chlorophyll-bearing ancestors? It is not 
his purpose to discuss the question as to whether or not the 
Phycomycetes or lower fungi, had an independent origin, or 
were derived from one or several different groups of the green 
alge. He considers some of the evidence which points to the 
origin of the Ascomycetes from fungus ancestry, rather than from 
the red alge. Professor Atkinson’s paper is accompanied by 
a chart showing the suggested phylogeny of the Ascomycetes, 
and there is an extensive list of literature quoted. 
CURIOUS PHENOMENON IN PIGEON-BREEDING. 
The late Professor C. O. Whitman, of Chicago, spent many 
years in the study of pigeons, and, in Knowledge for August, 
Professor J. Arthur Thomson expresses the hope that his 
unpublished observations will be made available. One of 
the phenomena which he noticed was that, if certain somewhat 
1915 Sept. 1. 
