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1905] CURRENT LITERATURE 475 
On the maps, samples of which are given, physical features are represented by 
continuous lines, plant associations by dotted lines, and contour lines by alter- 
nating dots and dashes.—H. C. Cowles. 
THE RELATIONS of Arum maculatum with insects, as described by HERMANN 
Mitier and others, have become so much a part of the literature of entomophily 
that it is a distinct shock to read the testimony of GERARD,?9 as given at a recent 
meeting of the Linnean Society. The current account is contradicted as follows: 
“The obstruction caused by the hairs is not such as of itself to prevent the insects 
escaping;” for “the hairs are not stiff or sharp; they do not point consistently 
downwards; frequently they are not in the narrow throat of the tube; they are 
$0 far apart as to leave ample room for such small insects [as those that habitually 
visit the plant] to pass between them; they never extend to the walls of the 
chamber, leaving a free passage in that direction;” and, besides, insects may be 
observed to escape. That many insects do not escape is evident, which the 
observer explains as follows: “The truth seems to be that the plant drugs the 
insects, reducing them to a state of imbecility, which is the true cause of their 
inability to get away; and that finally they not only die from the effects of the 
treatment, but their succulent portions are absorbed by the Arum, which thus 
claims to rank as carnivorous.”—J. M. C. 
In A PAPER entitled Evolution of cellular structu 
some of the fundamental problems of plant cytology.*° The treatment is inter- 
esting for their arrangement of the material, and for the development of a ter- 
minology covering the various phases of the life histories of plants based upon 
the nuclear conditions. Whether such elaborate systems of nomenclature really 
tend to clearness of expression may be open to question. They are apt ened 
the framework of a subject a degree of rigidity, which is found es be impractl- 
cable because it cannot yield. In a number of points their outline seems open 
to criticism. The statement that “there has been no evolution away from 
sexuality” is surprising, when one recalls the wonderful development of the kelp 
family, of Caulerpa, and of numbers of forms whose reproductive Processes ay 
entirely asexual, together with the remarkable extent of apogamy. The estab- 
ful genera as Alchemilla, hers- 
cium, Antennaria, Taraxacum, and Thalictrum, indicates the ee, = 
@pogamy in higher plants to an extent that is probably scarcely suspected. 
B. M. Davis. 
res COOK and SWINGLE discuss 
Ko are taking up anew the 
Derr or f investigators W 
o has joined the army of 1 . f the experiments of FoREL, 
floral color problem as related to insects.3* In view 0 
e— 
20 GERARD, JoHN, Arum maculatum and its relations with insects. Jour. Botany 
43: 231-233. 1905. 
3° Cook, O. F., and Swincte, W. T., Evolution of cell 
Bureau Plant Indus., U. S. Dept. of Agric. 1995- 
: 3" Detro, C., Versuche iiber die Bliitenorientirung und da 
biene. Flora 94:424-463. 1904. 
ular structures. Bull. 81. 
s Lernen der Honig- 
