Apeil 2, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



551 



"Troubles of Alfalfa in New York" (Bull. 

 305), in whicli are taken up such things as: 

 uncongenial soil conditions; winter injury; 

 dodder; weeds; fungus diseases; root-knot; 

 diseases of unknown cause, etc. The whole 

 paper is full of interesting facts for the 

 grower of alfalfa, and most of it should in- 

 terest the general botanist. The portion 

 dealing with dodder (Cuscuta) is especially 

 interesting. A valuable bibliography inclu- 

 ding 115 titles closes the bulletin. 



In a recent number of the Kew Bulletin of 

 Miscellaneous Information Mr. Fred Tur- 

 ner's paper on " The Economic Value of 

 the Australian Pasture Herbs " is interesting 

 to American botanists as showing the great 

 differences between the two countries. His 

 list includes' a Trigonella, Erodium, Gera- 

 nium, Boerhaavia, Blennodia lepidium, Mar- 

 silia,, Daucus, Psoralea, Swainsona, Plantago, 

 Calandrinia, Portulaca and Tetragonia. Of 

 the Marsilia (M. drummondii) he says : 



This dwarf, clover-like plant, occurs in the in- 

 terior of all the Australian states, generally on 

 the margins of swamps or where water collects 

 in shallow pools after rain. When the water sub- 

 sides the young plants grow rapidly in the mud, 

 and eventually cover the ground with dense vege- 

 tation, reminding one of cultivated clover. All 

 kinds of stock are extremely fond of this plant, 

 which is regarded as nutritious food. 



PAPERS ON FUNGI 



An important paper on the " Geoglossaceae 

 of North America," by Mr. E. J. Durand, 

 appeared recently in " Annales Mycologici " 

 as one of the contributions from the depart- 

 ment of botany of Cornell University. These 

 plants are discomycetous fungi of somewhat 

 doubtful affinities, Shroeter associating them 

 with BMzinaceae on the one hand, and Eel- 

 vellaceae on the other in the order Helvel- 

 lales, while Boudier places them near Helo- 

 tiaceae and Mollisiaceae in Pezizales. With 

 the latter view Mr. Durand agrees. In his 

 paper, after an interesting introduction of 

 nine or ten pages, the author makes a synop- 

 sis of the eleven genera considered, and then 

 follows with full generic and specific descrip- 

 tions, with exact citations of all the material 



examined in every instance. This portion of 

 the paper, with index and explanations of the 

 plates, fills eighty pages, and these are fol- 

 lowed by eighteen plates, nearly one half 

 being made from photographs. Forty-two 

 species are recognized, and of these nine are 

 here described for the first time. The paper 

 should do much to stimulate the search for 

 the plants of this group of fungi. 



A recent number of the Bulletin of the 

 College of Agriculture, of the Tokyo Impe- 

 rial University of Japan, contains two im- 

 portant papers on fungi by the Japanese 

 botanist, S. Kusano. One of these is entitled 

 the " Biology of Chrysanthemum Bust," and 

 discusses "black rust" (Puccinia chrysam- 

 themi), "white rust" (P. horiana) and 

 "brown rust" (Uredo autumnalis) . The 

 exact relationship of the latter has not yet 

 been determined. The opinion is expressed 

 that the rusts occurring on cultivated species 

 of Chrysanthemum in Japan originated upon 

 the wild Chrysanthemum of that country 

 (C. decaisneanum) . 



The second paper by Kusano, under the title 

 of " Notes on Japanese Eungi," is in continu- 

 ation of a series of articles on this subject, 

 the present one being devoted to species of 

 Puccinia known to occur on the leaves of 

 bamboo plants. Eive species are enumerated, 

 viz. : P. phyllO'Stachydis (on Phyllostachys 

 hamhusioides) ; P. longicornis (on 8asa pani- 

 culaia and Arundinaria japonica) ; P. 

 husanoi and its variety azuma (on Arundi- 

 naria simonij A. variahilis, A. naharia and 

 8asa spp.) ; P. sasae (on Sasa horealis). 

 From observations on these rusts the author 

 concludes that " it is highly probable that the 

 uredosori originate from the sporidia," that is, 

 without the intervention of the aecidial stage. 

 Charles E. Bessey 



The Univebsitt op Nebraska 



SPECIAL ARTICLES 

 THE OTTER IN EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS 



In a recent number of Science' Mr. C. E. 

 Gordon reports that otters have been repeat- 



'Vol. XXVIII., No. 726, November 27, 1908, 

 pp. 772-775. 



