190 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXIX. No. 735 



man's earlier investigations. He concludes 

 that the conjugations by means of whicli the 

 cells of the rusts change from a uninucleated 

 to a binueleated condition are not to be re- 

 garded as simple fusions for nutritive purposes 

 as is common in many fungi, but as marking 

 the beginning of the sporophyte generation. 



In a paper entitled " Infection Experiments 

 with Erysiphe cichoracearum " {Bull. Univ. 

 Wis., Science Series, vol. 3, pp. 337-416) Dr. 

 G. M. Keed takes up the question of "physi- 

 ological species," and after making a great 

 many infections concludes that his V70rk 

 " throws considerable doubt upon the existence 

 of distinct biological forms " in mildews as 

 well as in certain species of rust. The paper 

 is so largely made up of tables that it can not 

 be summarized. 



C. H. Kauilman's "Unreported Michigan 

 Fungi for 190Y, with an Outline of the 

 Gasteromycetes of the State " (in Tenth Ann. 

 Report Mich. Academy of Science, pp. 63-84). 

 adds many hitherto unreported species to the 

 Michigan flora and includes a useful arrange- 

 ment of the Gasteromycetes. The same 

 author's paper on the Physiology of the Sapro- 

 legniaceae (in Ann. Bot., Vol. X5II., pp. 361- 

 387) adds to our knowledge of the structure 

 and development of these interesting fungi, 

 and is especially valuable as suggesting 

 methods of culture. The author modestly 

 says that his paper " adds something more of 

 evidence towards the doctrine that sex in 

 plants is determinable by external conditions," 

 distinctly disclaiming however that it is yet 

 conclusive. 



CONNECTICUT MOSSWORTS 



Under the title " The Bryophytes of Con- 

 necticut " Professor Doctor Evans and Mr. G. 

 E. Nichols publish (in State Geol. and Nat. 

 Survey, Bull., No. 11) an important contribu- 

 tion to our knowledge of the mosses and liver- 

 worts of that state. It opens with a well- 

 written introductory chapter of 16 pages on 

 the general structure of these plants, followed 

 by a 5-page history of bryology in Connecticut 

 (from which we learn that the first systematic 

 work on these plants was undertaken by D. C. 

 Eaton about half a century ago), half a dozen 



pages of ecology, and two, on the economic 

 values of bryophytes. Then follows the Cata- 

 logue of 387 species, distributed as follows : 

 Marchantiales, 12; Jungermanniales, 92; 

 Anthocerotales, 3; Sphagnales, 31; Andre- 

 aeales, 2; Bryales, 247. Under each species 

 are given habitat, localities in the state, gen- 

 eral distribution, exsiccati and references to 

 descriptive or other papers. The bibliography 

 includes 81 papers, beginning with Sullivant's 

 " Anophytes " in the second edition of Gray's 

 " Manual," in 1856, and coming down to the 

 present. An excellent index closes this useful 

 work. 



Charles E. Bessey 

 University of Nebraska 



ANTHROPOLOGY AT THE BRITISH 

 ASSOCIATION 



The Anthropological Section (H) of the 

 British Association, held at Belfast last Sep- 

 tember, was notable for the number and ex- 

 cellence of the papers, many of which were 

 fully illustrated with lantern slides. A precis 

 of the proceedings will be found in Nature, 

 but readers of Science may like to hear how 

 America was represented. In his presidential 

 address on " Totemism " Mr. A. C. Haddon 

 criticized the terminology employed by most 

 American students. He held a confusion had 

 been made between totemism proper and the 

 cult of a guardian spirit; doubtless American 

 anthropologists will have something to say on 

 this subject. Mr. W. J. Knowles, a local 

 archeologist, described some stone axe factories 

 that he had discovered near Cushendall in Co. 

 Antrim, which recall in a small way, as was 

 pointed out at the time, the bowlder quarries 

 described by Dr. W. H. Holmes in the 

 Fifteenth Annual Eeport of the Bureau of 

 Ethnology. Mr. Knowles also exhibited some 

 leaf-shaped flint objects which were probably 

 an intermediate stage in the manufacture of 

 arrow- and spear-heads and he alluded to the 

 analogous leaf-shaped blades found by Mr. 

 Holmes in the Piny branch quarry sites. Dr. 

 W. H. Furness, third, of Philadelphia, read a 

 very interesting and important paper on the 

 "Ethnography of the Nagas of Eastern 

 Assam," which was illustrated by a fine series 



