232 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [MARCH 
staff, presented him with an address expressive of their affectionate regret. 
A representation of the elegant bromeliad called Bakeria tillandsioides, 
drawn by Miss Smith, the botanical artist, served to frame the address— 
Gardeners Chronicle I11. 25:74. 5 
A FIRE which broke out in the physical laboratory on the night of 
December 25 destroyed the buildings of the University of Geneva, and with 
them botanical collections of great value. The destruction involved the ‘ 
large Delessert herbarium, Professor R. Chodat's personal herbarium and 
about 200 drawings, representing the labor of ten years, Huber’s Mediterma- ; 
nean plants, and various collections loaned by other herbaria for study. 
Such losses are irreparable. : 
; 
AT THE MEETING of the Academy of Science of St. Louis on January 9, 
1899, Mr. Hermann von Schrenk presented informally the results of a study 
of a sclerotium disease of beech roots which he had observed in southeaster 
New York during the past summer. The sclerotia, which were formed by ; 
the webbing together of rootlets by sterile mycelial threads, have apparently : 
no connection with the mycorhiza of the beech. Mr. von Schrenk’s remarks 
, were illustrated by drawings and specimens.— WILLIAM TRELEASE. 4 
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS has established a distinct department of - 
botany, which will begin its separate existence with the next college ye 
The matter is of special interest since, so far as is known at this writing, this 
is the first independent department of botany in connection with any souther 
university. Dr. Wm. L. Bray, who recently received his doctor's degree from 
the University of Chicago, has been in charge of the botanical work at the 
University for two years, and will be in charge of the new department. 
ON FEBRUARY ninth, a fire in Maxcy House, a dormitory of ae 
University, caused considerable damage to the botanical department is 
occupied quarters in the basement. Fortunately the loss was we 
serious as was reported in the daily papers. The herbarium and poate 
apparatus are practically uninjured. Many books and charts are aa 
by water, and the economic collections, stored above, were entirely A ‘artment 
We hope that the final result will be to the betterment of the a 
and that the interruption of its work will be brief. 
AT THE MEETING of the Academy of Science of St. Louis, 0 Bp “ 
23, 1899, a paper by Professor A. S. Hitchcock, entitled “St ‘ale 
subterranean organs, Part I, Composite of the vicinity te 
Kansas,” dealing with the structure of a number of rootstocks with © 
to their environment, was presented in abstract. Mr. C. H. Thomps” 
spoke of some plants whose flowers originate endogenously. He an 
several species of Rhipsalis in which the much reduced leaves grow ae 
ue 
