1908] CURRENT LITERATURE 139 



true for one re^on may be far from true in another. For example, Shepherdia 

 canadensis, Artemisia canadefisis , and Pellaea atro purpurea are cited as calcicoles. 

 In the Chicago region, only the latter is commonly a calcicole, and it is also a 

 silicicole. It is doubtful too if the chemical theory can account for the prevalence 

 of alpine plants in bogs, a phenomenon readily explained by the current theories, — 



Henry C. Cowles. 



Ecological notes from New Zealand.^Some of Cockayn'e's* brief papers 

 should be noticed here. Coprosma Baueri is found to show a striking case of leaf 

 variation. In the usual natural habitat the leaves are fleshy and have margins so 

 recur\xd as to be called "rolled;" in shade the leaves are much larger and quite 

 flat. An accompanying photograph shows how striking is the variation. The 

 second paper discusses the supposed finding of a seashore Celmisia in the moun- 

 tains; the two forms are very similar, but Cockayne believes, as everyone must 

 in these days, that the court of last resort in the determination of the validity of 

 species is no longer the herbarium but the experimental garden. The Poor Knights 

 Islands are small precipitous islands exposed to the open sea and never before 

 visited by a naturalist. The scrub formation, in which Suttoftia divaricata domi- 

 nates, differs from any allied New Zealand formation; the luxuriance of the arbo- 

 rescent plants is very remarkable in view of the great exposure of the islands. 

 A Carmichaelia, known previously from but one place and that far away, probably 

 attests that the species was once widespread. In another paper, Cockayne^ 

 has added another to the long list of probable mutants observed in nature. This 

 case is of special interest becaiise the mutation is in a plant well known in the 

 region, and is too conspicuous to be overlooked. Leptospcrmum scoparium is 

 one of the commonest weeds of New Zealand, and possesses white or sometimes 

 pink flowers. The "mutant" consists of a crimson -flowered form, and it is 

 noteworthy that the foliage is so much darker that it is easy to pick out the mutant 

 in the seedling condition. In connection with Cockayn'e's studies it should be 

 noted that he has published a large amount of ecological literature in popular form 

 in the Lyttellon Times, a Christchurch paper. These ^says have been well 

 written and must have done much to interest New Zealanders in the remarkabte 

 vegetation of their country, and to induce them to take steps to presen-e thib 

 vegetation in large part through the medium of government reservations.— Hexey 



C. COWT^S. 



Plant-breeding in the tropics .—Lock^ has published a third report on hybridi- 

 zation experiments carried on at Peradeniya, Ceylon, giving in detail the results 



* Cockayne, L., On a specific case of leaf variation in Coprosma Baueri EndL; 

 on the supposed Mount Bonpland habitat of Celmisia Lindsayi Hook, f.; Nc^es on a 

 brief botanical \isii to the Poor Knights Islands. Trans. N. Z. Inst. 38:34i-3'5o- ^^^ 



5 CooCAYNE, L., On the sudden appearance of a new character in an individual 

 of Leptospermum scoparium. New Phytologist 6:43-4*5- I907" 



* Lock, R. H., Studies in plant breeding in the tropics. III. Esperiments with 

 maize. Ann. Rov. Bot. Gard- Peradeniya 3: 9";- 184- ^9°^- 



