156 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 761 



tions indicates how great has been the need 

 for such a journal, and hy the same showing 

 this journal is one which no cytologist can 

 afford to be without. 



E. G. CONKLIN 



BOTANICAL NOTES 



CYTOLOGY, EMBRYOLOGY AND HISTOLOGY 



Dr. Miyake's studies of " The Development 

 of Gametophytes and Embryogeny of Cun- 

 ninghamia" (Bot. Mag., March, 1908) leads 

 him to the conclusion that there is a close 

 affinity between this genus and Taxodium and 

 Cryptomeria. He suggests that these genera 

 should be placed with the Cupresseae, " and 

 that Sequoia and Sciadopytis should each con- 

 stitute a family by itself." 



Helen Dorety in studying " The Embryo of 

 Oeratozamia" (Bot. Gaz., June, 1908) in 

 which there is but one cotyledon, subjected 

 the young ovules to the action of a klinostat 

 (thus neutralizing the effect of gravitation) 

 and found that embryos grown under these 

 conditions developed two cotyledons. These 

 studies are continued in a later paper, " The 

 Seedling of Oeratozamia" (Bot. Gaz., Sep- 

 tember, 1908). 



Here may be mentioned E. J. Pool's " His- 

 tological Studies in the Artemisia Eorma- 

 tion" (Univ. Nehr. Studies, Vol. 8, No. 4), 

 in which further facts are recorded in regard 

 to the relation between the physical environ- 

 ment of plants and their internal structure. 

 Especial attention was given to Artemisia 

 tridentata, the "sage brush" of the Eocky 

 Mountain region, a perennial, woody xero- 

 phyte, although some attention was given to 

 twenty-four other species of plants which 

 occur in the formation. Eight plates, in- 

 cluding forty-two figures, accompany the 

 paper. 



In E. H. Pond's studies of the " Emergence 

 of Lateral Eoots " (Bot. Gaz., Vol. 46, pp. 

 410-12) the author concludes that in Vicia 

 fata and Lupinus aTbu-s they " push out from 

 the central cylinder mechanically, and do not 

 have a digestive action upon the surrounding 

 tissue." 



In the same number of the Gazette W. H. 



Brown's paper on " The Nature of the Em- 

 bryo-sac of Peperomia " contributes additional 

 facts to our knowledge of a genus of interest- 

 ing plants. Among his results are the hetero- 

 typic division of the embryo-sac nucleus, and 

 the mature sac with sixteen nuclei. Three 

 fine plates add to the value of the paper. 



We may note, also, Dr. Swingle's " Embry- 

 ology of Myosurus minimus " (Am,. Nat., Sep- 

 tember, 1908) and L. L. Burlingame's " Stam- 

 inate Cone and Male Gametophyte of Podo- 

 carpus" (Bot. Gaz., September, 1908), both 

 of which add somewhat to our knowledge of 

 the plants concerned. 



THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK 



Some years ago the New York Agricultural 

 Experiment Station began the publication of 

 a series of comprehensive treatises on- the 

 fruits of New York, the first, devoted to the 

 apples, being the work of Professor S. A. 

 Beach. Now we have from TJ. P. Hedrick 

 and his four assistants a thick quarto volume 

 of nearly six hundred pages, and 101 full-page 

 color-plates. The latter are remarkably fine, 

 and were made by a four-color process in 

 which four photographic negatives were made 

 of each specimen, and from these four copper 

 plates were made, and in the printing each 

 plate was used for one of the four colors used, 

 viz., red, yellow, black and blue. It is by far 

 the best work of this kind that we have seen. 



The volume is of much more than horticul- 

 tural interest, and will be consulted by botan- 

 ists who wish to know something of the rela- 

 tionship of the various kinds of grapes more 

 or less commonly grown in the northern states. 

 There is first an interesting account of the 

 old world grape (Vitis vinifera), and of the 

 many futile attempts to introduce it into 

 North America east of the Eocky Mountains. 

 Then follows a similar, but longer account of 

 the American grapes and their introduction 

 into cultivation. The next chapter on Viti- 

 culture in New York is devoted to the prac- 

 tical horticultural aspects of the subject, and 

 this is followed by one wholly botanical in 

 which twenty-three American species are de- 

 scribed with much particularity. Eeferences 



