NEWS. 
PROFESSOR W. W. BAILEY, after twenty-one years of continuous service 
at Brown University, has been granted leave of absence for the first term of 
1898-9. 
ILLUSTRATIONS of the inflorescence and dissections of Welwitschia 
(Tumboa), made from a plant growing at Kew, are published in the 
Gardener's Chronicle (111. 24: 62-63. 18098). 
THE Division oF Borany of the Department of Agriculture has issued a 
bulletin (no. 20), prepared by V. K. Chestnut, which describes and illustrates 
the principal poisonous plants of the United States. 
Mr. Joun W. HARSHBERGER has published his lecture upon the uses of 
plants among the ancient Peruvians. Among the prehistoric remains are 
found the maize, peanut, potato, sweet potato, and coca. 
THE LAST FOUR NUMBERS (171-174) of Engler and Prantl’s Natiirlichen 
Pflanzenfamilien contain a continuation of the Umbellifere, by Drude; @ 
continuation of the Hymenomycetinee, by Hennings; and the beginning of 
the Pteridophyta, by Sadebeck. 
THE BERLIN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE has made the following grants for 
botanical work: 2000 marks to Professor Engler for the continuation of his 
work on East African plants; 600 marks to Professor Graebner, for the con- 
tinuation of his work on German heaths ; 500 marks to Dr. Loesner, for the 
completion of his monograph of the Aquifoliacee. 
DURING THE LAST COLLEGE YEAR the following botanists have passed 
their doctorate examinations at the University of Chicago: W. L. Bray, thesis 
“The xerophytic flora of Texas;” Otis W. Caldwell, thesis “ Morphology of 
Lemna minor, with ecological notes ;” Henry C. Cowles, thesis “ The ecolog- 
ical relations of the sand dune flora of northern Indiana;" W. D. Merrell, 
thesis ‘Contribution to the life history of Silphium.” 
152. [aveust 1898 
