1897 | CURRENT LITERATURE 443 
ee Siac changes consequent upon the reclamation of swamp lands, and 
n their notes upon the plant movements necessitated by these changes, bring 
aN a mass of facts of extreme interest and value. Mr. Blatchley, under 
the title of some ‘‘ Phanerogams new or rare to the state,” records the stations 
and habitats of ninety-three species, of which thirty-three have not heretofore 
been recorded as occurring within the state, the remainder being recorded 
from a single station only. In “Contributions to the flora of Indiana, No. 1V,”’ 
Professor Stanley Coulter discusses ‘‘ The Compositz of the state with special 
reference to their distribution.” Of the two hundred and thirteen specimens 
recorded, it is shown that thirty-six species are reported from a single 
station; that eight species are strictly northern, twenty-four southern, and 
one western in distribution within the state; and that the remaining one 
hundred and forty-four species are of general distribution. Preceding the 
discussion of the distribution of the species there is given a brief summary of 
certain experiments touching the germination of Composite and the power of 
resistance shown by seedlings to temperature and moisture changes. These 
experiments promise to yield results of exceptional importance, and are of 
more than passing interest. 
Additions to the cryptogamic flora of the state are made by Dr. L. M. 
Underwood and Dr. J. C. Arthur. Miss Lilian Snyder contributes an article 
upon “The Uredinez of Tippecanoe county,” noting seventy species, fifteen 
of which have here their first record for the state. 
In physiological botany Professor M. B. Thomas discusses “ Periodicity 
of root pressure,” arriving at the following general conclusions: the perio- 
dicity of root pressure seems to be inherent in the plant, and has either been 
acquired by previous adaptation to environment, or is the result of the action 
of some constant or periodic changes in the plant; root pressure does not 
seem to have any relation to the previous periodicities of the vital activities of 
the plant when the top was connected with the roots; the measure of the root 
pressure seems to be the osmotic activity of the root hairs, and is probably 
due to the presence of organic acids and other substances in the rhizoids that 
show great affinity for water; although the wae acids increase in the 
ene at 50°-60°F., their increase does not seem to make any ~~ 
erence in the periodicity, this being true even when the temperature o 
the soil is a up to 55°F., approaching the time of minimum pressure. 
Katherin erine ge — records a series of experiments undertaken to 
yeasts have pathogenic properties. Rab- 
bits and guinea siies were used in the work, the results indicating that yeasts 
when taken into the stomach of those animals cause neither discomfort, nor 
_ lesions in any organ, even when a fermentable substance be eaten at the 
_ same time. Injections from wort cultures of yeast were also made in the 
case of both animals, to note the effect of yeast when introduced into the 
pee, eae in no case could ill effects be observed. The results of the 
Jet, 
