1896 | BOTANICAL PAPERS AT BUFFALO 245 
C. E. Bessey: Distribution of Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi in 
Nebraska—The state was described as an almost treeless slop- 
ing plain, rising from the Missouri river at an elevation of 1000 
feet to 5000 feet at the western boundary. Near the center of 
the state the bearberry was found a few years ago ina small 
cafion, and recently at a second station in a gorge of the bluffs 
of the Republican river at the southern boundary of the state 
These two isolated patches are widely separated from the pres- 
ent mass distribution of the species to the north and west. They 
are also noteworthy from the fact that ericaceous plants are 
notoriously absent from the whole region. 
F. C. Newcompe: An improvement in a paraffin bath— 
Shrinkage of protoplasm when imbedding plant tissues often 
occurs when they are transferred from the cold saturated par- 
affin solution to pure warm paraffin. To enable one to make 
this increase in temperature gradual some device must ke 
adopted to allow the imbedding dish to be lowered gradually 
into the bath. A brass spring bearing against the side of the 
pocket which receives the dish was suggested. 
_ W.W. RowLeE: Notes on oaks.—Specimens of oaks grow- 
ing in the vicinity of Ithaca, N. Y., were displayed, showing (1) 
the habit of branching at the end of each annual growth, giving 
the characteristic appearance of rigidity; (2) a case of second 
shoot development during the present season, the winter bud 
having formed in June, and subsequently having developed its 
Shoot ; and (3) a remarkable case of leaf variation upona single 
Fanch, giving the tree the appearance of bearing a branch of 
some other species. 
es Bessey: Distribution of Pinus ponderosa in Nebree 
© “stribution of this pine in Nebraska has been given usually 
oe in see regions: along the northern border of = 
west wn the Niobrara and up its cafions; and at the south- 
“mn Corner of the state along the Platte. It is now found 
