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1898] BRIEFER AK TICLES 453 
its Apios element, or its Wistaria element, it is equally evident that the 
genus long antedates both Apios Moench. and Kraunhia Raf., which 
the reformers keep up for these two elements respectively. Bradlea is 
not obscure enough to be overlooked, since it is published in Adan- 
son’s well-known work from which the reformers have derived so many 
of their names. It is also duly cited as a synonym of Apios by such 
works as Pfeiffer’s omenclator and Hooker and Jackson’s /ndex 
Kewensis. It does not appear to be antedated by any homonym, and 
it is truly puzzling to see why it has been rejected by those who, as 
they claim, admit no exception to the law of priority. However, its 
revival at present would be worse than useless, until the value of the 
fifty-year limit, suggested by the leading German botanists, can be sub- 
jected to a careful test. Mention of Bradlea is here made merely to 
show how little finality the advocates of the Rochester nomenclature 
have been able to obtain even when dealing with such a well-known 
genus as Apios.— B. L. Rosinson, Gray Herbarium. 
A CONTRIBUTION TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE FLORA 
OF TUSCOLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.* 
DurinG the summer of 1897, while engaged in field work for the 
Michigan Geological Survey, in that part of Tuscola county which 
lies adjacent to the eastern shore of Saginaw bay, the writer found 
what proved from the botanical standpoint an extremely interesting 
tract of country. This was a narrow, irregular strip of land somewhat 
back from the bay shore, known locally as the “prairie,” which was 
rarely more than two or three miles in width, frequently much less, 
and at no very distant time had been a part of the bottom of the bay. 
As the geological history of this tract has a clearly defined bearing 
upon the distribution of the plants which grow upon it, and as it ug 
plainly set forth in easily read records, I will briefly trace it. 
The bay off this shore is, and apparently always has been, very 
Shallow. There are areas of the bottom also in which there are broad 
sand bars. These bars are often of considerable extent, but are still 
beneath the surface, and are only a few feet higher than the rest of the 
bottom. After a time one of these bars, in a part of the bay more 
exposed to the action of waves, is built up until its top is raised above 
Read before the Michigan Academy of Science, March 31, 1898. 
