1896 | ; CURRENT LITERATURE 503 
UNDER THE TITLE, ‘The suction-force of transpiring branches,” S. H. 
Vines gives’ a review of earlier experiments to show the means by which a 
current of water is maintained between the roots and the leaves of plants, 
and the results of some recent experiments to determine the suction-force of 
the leaf, which force has been suggested as the probable cause of sap eleva- 
vation.—S. C. S. 
SEPARATES have been distributed by Professor M. C. Potter,3 of Durham 
College, England, detailing the development and nature of the conidial stage 
of Botrytis cinerea. \t appears to be a saprophyte, which grows less readily 
aS a parasite, and is the initial cause of the rotting of stored turnips, etc. 
The conidia germinate readily in moist air, and infection takes place best 
through wounds or injury due to freezing. The fungus is more aggressive as 
a parasite after growing for a time saprophytically.—J. C. A 
Kraus has studied at Buitenzorg + the heat produced in flowers of cycads, 
palms, and arums. His measurements in the spadices of Ceratozamia 
longifolia and. Macrozamia Mackenzi showed a daily period repeated for 
Several days, with a mid-afternoon maximum, the maximum temperature 
excess being 11.7° C. Among the palms, Bactris speciosa showed a rise of 
temperature for several days, continuing through the night also. In the 
Aracee a daily period with an evening maximum was observed, coincident 
with which was the intensity of odor.—C. R. B. 
NESTLER has communicated to the Royal Academy of Sciences in Vienna 
the results of researches upon the excretion of liquid water by leaves.5 He 
finds that the special tissue often developed between the end of the tracheids 
and the water pore does not act asa secreting tissue, as has long been taught, 
but that the extrusion is due wholly to filtration under pressure. Man 
a experiments show this; the following one may be cited as illustrative. If 
_ the excretion of water from young grass blades is checked by choking the 
_ Water clefts or by killing the tips with hot water, the excretion appears in dif- 
_ *rent places along the margin, probably through air pores.—C. R. B. 
Bee ITEMS OF TAXONOMIC INTEREST are as follows: F. V. Coville has pub- 
: lished* a new Ribes, 2. erythrocarpum, from Crater Lake, Oregon, a region of 
_ the southern Cascades that seems never to have been explored botanically. 
*Ann. Bot. 10:429-444. 1896. 
*Rottenness of turnips and swedes in store. Reprinted from Jour. Bd. Agric. 
3*~[1-14]. 4 plates. 
. nt Tsologisches aus dem Tropen. III. Ueber Bliitenwarme bei Cycadeen, 
aes ..., Araceen, Annales du Jard. bot. de Buitenzorg 132:217-275. Av. 3. 1896. 
- Lent. 68:119. 1806 
G pater. bot. Zeits. 46:371. 1896. 
Proc. Biol. Soc, Washington 10: 131-132. 1896. 
