Mat 14, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



7!-)5 



is thrown into diagonal folds, but seems to 

 preserve some of the muscular contour. 



On the tail of another specimen of Tracho- 

 don, from the American Museum Cope Col- 

 lection, the entire epidermis is covered vs^ith 

 flattened scales of larger size, nearly a centi- 

 meter in diameter. 



This disposition of the scales into the 

 larger pavement groups and smaller tubercu- 

 lar areas is unlike that observed by the writer 

 in any lacertilian; it appears to be unique. 

 In a second paper the longitudinal and per- 

 pendicular arrangement of the clusters will 

 be more fully made out. 



Mr. Sternberg has added another of his im- 

 portant contributions to science through the 

 fortunate discovery of this unique specimen, 

 in a geologic region which was very generally 

 considered as thoroughly prospected out. 



Hexry Fairfield Osborn 



BOTANICAL yOTEl=l 

 SHORT NOTES 



In the March number of the Jounial of 

 Botany E. F. Rand begins his altogether 

 interesting " Wayfaring Notes in Rhodesia " 

 which remind one of the notes made by the 

 traveling botanists of a century or so ago. 

 Here one finds morphological, ecological, tax- 

 onomic and critical notes delightfully com- 

 mingled. 



Akin to the foregoing are the notes on 

 English plants made by Matthew Dodsworth, 

 a seventeenth century botanist, now first pub- 

 lished in the Journal of Botany for March, 

 by the editor. It is interesting to note such 

 names as " Wild Williams " (for Lychnis fios-, 

 cuculi) and "Woodbind" (for Woodbine). 

 A couple of letters to Plukenet are dated 1680 

 and 1681. 



In a recent number of the Oeniralhlatt fur 

 Bdkteriologie, Parasitenkunde und Infections- 

 hrankheiten (Bd. SXII., Abt. 2) Dr. O. Jen- 

 sen, of Copenhagen, proposes a new classifica- 

 tion of the bacteria based upon their activities. 

 He recognizes eleven families, as follows: 

 Oxydoiacteriaceae, Actinomycetes, Thiohac- 

 teriaceae, Rhodohacteriaceae, Trichohacteri- 

 aceae,Luminolyacieriaceae,Reducibacteriaceae, 



AcidohacteriaceaBj Alkalibacteriaceae, Butyri- 

 hacteriaceae, Puiribacteriaceae. A chart show- 

 ing the relationship of these families and the 

 genera they contain accompanies this quite 

 suggestive paper. 



An interesting paper on the temperature 

 relations of foliage-leaves in the February 

 number of the New Phytologist is likely to be 

 somewhat disconcerting to those botanists who 

 still speak of the " cool leaves " — made so by 

 transpiration. Not only are leaves shown to 

 have a high internal temperature in the sun- 

 light, but Molisch has found that leaves may 

 have a high temperature due to respiration. 



Elmer D. Merrill, of the Biological Labo- 

 ratory of the Bureau of Science, Manila, has 

 published many important botanical papers 

 during the past two years in the Philippine 

 Journal of Science, among which are the fol- 

 lowing which have been issued as separates: 

 Index to Philippine Botanical Literature ; The 

 Flora of Mount Halcon, Mindoro; Additional 

 Identifications of the Species described in 

 Blanco's Flora de Filipinas ; Philippine Plants 

 collected by the Wilkes United States Ex- 

 ploring Expedition; New Philippine Plants 

 from the Collection of Mary Strong Clemens; 

 New or Noteworthy Philippine Plants; The 

 Oaks of the Philippines {Castanopsis, 1 sp.; 

 Quercus, 17 sp.) ; Philippine Ericaceae (Rho- 

 dodendron, 16 sp. ; Vaccinium, 19 sp.; Gaul- 

 theria, 2 sp, ; Diplycosia, 2 sp.) ; On a Collec- 

 tion of Plants from the Batanes and Babuy- 

 anes Islands. 



From the Philippine Bureau of Forestry 

 we have the Annual Report of the director, 

 Major George P. Ahern, and a paper by the 

 same author, entitled " A Few Pertinent Facts 

 concerning the Philippine Forests and Needs 

 of the Forest Service, that should interest 

 every Filipino." In the latter he urges the 

 Filipinos to educate their children for the 

 public service, especially as foresters, and calls 

 attention to the 60,000 square miles of public 

 forests and the advantageous position of the 

 islands for the supply of lumber to the far 

 east. In another bulletin (No. 9) W. I. 

 Hutchinson calls attention to a Philippine 



