394 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [MAY 
along the banks of ravines and at the base of hilly slopes where con- 
ditions are rather unfavorable. There are a number of characteristic 
grasses, which go to make up the great bulk of the prairie. The little 
blue stem or bunch grass, Andropogon scoparius Michx., grows mostly 
on the hills and ridges, while the big blue stem, Andropogon furcatus 
Muhl., occupies the more level and richer areas. Along with the big 
blue stem the Indian grass, Chrysopogon nutans (L.) Benth., and the 
switch grass, Panicum virgatum L., occur in considerable abundance, 
while in very wet ravines it is largely displaced by the slough grass 
Spartina cynosuroides Willd.—Joun H. Scuarrner, Columbus. O. 
A WASHING APPARATUS. 
(WITH FIGURE.) 
FoR some time we have felt the need in our laboratory of an appara 
tus adapted to washing material fixed in certain solutions, such as 
chromic acid and Flemming’s chromo-aceto-osmic mixture. Such a 
device should be at once simple in structure, capable of accommodating 
several bottles of material at once, and should provide a current of ee 
strong enough to insure a constant and gentle agitation of the material, 
and at the same time one not so violent as to injure the most delicate 
tissues. 
Such an apparatus has been made for our own laboratory, and 
after a year of use it fills all the requirements so perfectly that it has 
been thought desirable to publish a description of it in the hope that 
others might profit by our experience. It consists, essentially, of a 
trough supported on legs, and provided with a cork bottom, through 
holes in which are passed glass tubes drawn out to a point at the ydeined 
end. When the material is ready for washing, a fine meshed cloth is 
stretched over the mouth of the bottle, and held in place by 4 ioe 
band. The bottle is then placed beneath the trough, and one of t 
tubes is lowered until the pointed end projects through the cloth i 
the bottle. If water be then allowed to run into the trough until it : 
nearly full, the head of water will be sufficient to cause it to flow soe 
the glass tube into the bottle with just enough force to produce a gen . 
agitation or circulation of the material. The water passes off throug 
the meshes of the cloth. 
i: ‘ at size, 
The trough may, of course, be made of any material, of any 
re 
4 
FE et ee ee eT eee 
