May 24, 1912] 
Dr. E. LL. Greene continues in Leaflets 
(Vol. II., pp. 165-196) the publication of new 
species from different parts of the country, 
much space being given to new species of 
Apocynum, of which upwards of forty 
species are recognized that hitherto have 
found place under A. cannabinum and A. 
androsaemifolium. Half a dozen new species 
of Trautvetteria and five of Erigeron com- 
plete the fascicle. 
Brief notice may be made here of the 
“Outline Key of the Groups of the Genus 
Helianthus in Michigan,” by Mr. S. Alex- 
ander, in the Nineteenth Report of the 
Michigan Academy of Sciences (1911), in 
which the author brings together for publica- 
tion some results of his critical studies of 
these plants in the field and under cultiva- 
tion. Although incomplete, the paper con- 
tains many hints that systematic botanists 
may well heed. 
Dr. A. Nelson’s “ New Plants from Idaho,” 
in the Botanical Gazette for October, 1911, 
adds a number of new species from south- 
western Idaho, a region as yet little known 
botanically. 
Wm. R. Maxon describes (Smithsonian 
Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 56, No. 24) 
“A Remarkable New Fern from Panama,” 
a species of Polypodium in which the sori be- 
come crowded out so as to appear marginal 
upon the leaflets. To this species he has given 
the name P. podocarpum, and the hint is 
thrown out that it may constitute “a distinct 
generic type.” 
In M. A. Howe’s Phycological Studies, V., 
in the Torrey Bulletin for November, 1911, 
he publishes a list of nine Chlorophyceae, 
seven Phaeophyceae, and twelve Rhodophy- 
ceae from Lower California, of which eight 
are new. 
From the Institut de Botanique, Univer- 
sité de Geneve, the fifth and sixth fascicles 
(1910, 1911) contain the usual variety of 
contributions, ranging from morphology to 
physiology, pathology and the systematic bot- 
any of lower and higher plants, as, a new 
Rhamnus, the green snow of an Alpine 
SCIENCE 
831 
glacier (due to Ankistrodesmus virett), the 
copulation of Spirogyra, the physiological 
role of catalase, a new blue-green alga, etc. 
The well-known Minnesota Botanical Stud- 
ies have begun to appear again, the second 
part of Vol. IV. bearing date of September 
15, 1911. Its four articles are “ Observations 
on the Morphology of the Underground 
Stems of Symplocarpus and Lysichiton,;’ by 
C. O. Rosendahl; “Some Effects of Severe 
Frost upon Vegetation in a Condition of Ac- 
tive Growth,” by F. K. Butters and C. O. 
Rosendahl; “ Notes on the Species of Liagora 
and Galaxaura of the Central Pacific,” by F. 
K. Butters; “Nova Fungorum Ooloraden- 
sium Genera,” by F. E. Clements, the last 
including six new genera of Sphaeriaceae. 
With this part are given title-page, table of 
contents and index of Volume III. 
PATHOLOGICAL NOTES 
Dr. C. W. Epcerton’s papers “Two New 
Fig Diseases” (Phytopathology, February, 
1911), “ Diseases of the Fig Tree and Fruit” 
(Bull. 126, La. Expt. Station, March, 1911), 
“The Red Rot of Sugar Cane” (Bull. 133, 
La. Expt. Station, December, 1911), “ Botry- 
osphaeria on Cotton Bolls” (Mycologia, Jan- 
uary, 1912), and “ Flower Infection with Cot- 
ton Boll Rots” (Phytopathology, February, 
1912), show that botanical activity in the 
south is bringing good results. 
The same thing is shown by J. R. John- 
ston’s “ History and Cause of the Cocoanut 
Bud-Rot” (Bull. 228, Bureau of Plant In- 
dustry, U. S. Dept. Agric., February, 1912), 
dealing with “a very destructive and wide- 
spread disease of cocoanuts which has been 
known to occur in Cuba for more than thirty 
years.” The bulletin is the result of investi- 
gations in Cuba, Jamaica, Trinidad and 
British Guiana, covering a period of four 
years. The remarkable discovery was made 
that the organism causing this bud-rot is the 
common Bacillus colt, and “it is believed that 
birds and insects are the carriers of this dis- 
ease,” but to this the author cautiously adds 
“the subject requires further study.” 
