160 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVIII. No. 709 



]!<o. 6, p. 68. It is from 500 to 600 feet thick 

 in this vicinity and the stratum of this par- 

 ticular exposure is included somewhere in the 

 upper 150 feet of the formation. Some sand- 

 stone ledges appearing a mile and a half south 

 contain Ostrea larva and impressions of 

 Halymenites, and these ledges mark the be- 

 ginning of the change to the overlying San 

 Miguel beds. This trunk comes from at least 

 1,400 feet above the base of the Upper Creta- 

 ceous in this state. The Upson clay is under- 

 lain by about 750 feet of limestone of the age 

 ■of the Austin chalk, and below this there are 

 here some 250 feet of sediments corresponding 

 to the Eagle Ford shales. So far as I am 

 aware this is the only known cycad yet found 

 in the Upper Cretaceous of America. 



J. A. Udden 

 iRocK Island, III. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEUIEn 



THE TOBBEY BOTANICAL CLUB 



The club was called to order on May 27, 1908, 

 at tlie Museum Building of the New York Botan- 

 ical Garden at 4 P.M. by Vice-president John 

 Hendley Barnhart. Eight persona were present. 

 After the reading and approval of the minutes 

 for May 12, 1908, the announced scientific pro- 

 gram was presented. The following abstracts were 

 prepared by the authors of the papers : 

 The North American Species of Zygodon: Mrs. 



N. L. Bbitton. 



Attention was called to the fact that Zygodon 

 viridissimus is a rare species, having been found 

 only a few times in the high mountains of the 

 southern Alleghanies and northern New York. 

 It is usually sterile and propagates by septate 

 brood-bodies, borne in clusters in the axils of the 

 leaves. Fruiting specimens, collected by Dr. J. K. 

 Small on the summit of White Top, Virginia, 

 showed that the peristome is absent, though all 

 the capsules found were either too young or too 

 old for satisfactory determination. A comparison 

 with specimens collected by Drummond near Hud- 

 son Bay shows that the latter belong to Zygodon 

 Yupestris, which is variously placed by European 

 authors as either a species or a variety of Z. viri- 

 dissimus. Sterile specimens of Zygodon gracilis 

 have been recently discovered in North Carolina 

 by Dr. A. J. Grout. Zygodon excelsus, whose 

 fruit is also still unknown, appears to be more 

 closely related to Leptodontium than to Zygodon, 



The Acceleration of the Period of Senescence iy 



Radium Rays: C. Stuaet Gagee. 



In view of the fact already well known, that, 

 as old age approaches, the size of the cell-nucleus 

 becomes less relative to that of the cell, measure- 

 ments were, made to see if this relation was af- 

 fected by exposure to radium rays. It was found 

 that in cells near the root-tip of Zea Mays the 

 diameter of the nucleus was 35.5 per cent, that 

 of the cells in unexposed plants, but only 33.33 

 per cent, in roots exposed to radium rays. This 

 is some evidence that exposure to radium rays 

 accelerates the approach of the period of senes- 

 cence. 



A Collection of Philippine Fungi: W. A. MUBBnX. 



A splendid collection of fungi, sis hundred and 

 thirty-seven packets in all, was recently received 

 from the Bureau of Science, Manila, through Mr. 

 E. D. Merrill, botanist. Previous work upon the 

 fungi of this region was briefly sketched, and the 

 collections of Philippine fungi in various institu- 

 tions compared. 



This paper will be published in full, with notes 

 and description of interesting species, in a future 

 number of the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical 

 Club. 



An annoimced paper, on "Botanical Supplies 

 in the Public Schools," was not given, on account 

 of Dr. Hollick's unavoidable absence. 



At the close of the stated program Dr. Gager 

 exhibited some photographs of flowers, etc., taken 

 in natural color at the New York Botanical Gar- 

 den by the Lumi&re process. The process was 

 briefly explained. 



Dr. Murrill exhibited a specimen of " Tuck- 

 ahoe," and called attention to the fact that the 

 sporophore of a Polyporus had been obtained from 

 a form common in parts of Canada, the " Tuck- 

 ahoe " being a sclerotium, or a resting stage of 

 the mycelium in mass. He would be glad to 

 receive specimens of these sclerotia, either fresh 

 or dried, from any locality, so that the various 

 species, if more than one exists in this country, 

 may be properly distinguished. 



Dr. Barnhart exhibited for Mr. Nash a flower- 

 ing specimen of the lace-bark tree, Lagetta Lin- 

 tearia, a native of the West Indies. This tree is 

 known to have flowered only once before in cul- 

 tivation. An article on the specimen, and the 

 peculiarities and uses of the lace-like bark ap- 

 peared in the June, 1908, number of the Journal 

 of the Neio York Botanical Garden. 



C. Stuabt Gageb, 



Secretary 



