428 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LV, No. 1425 



the Precambrian, the recognizable land floras 

 beg-in in the Devonian. But the g:reat ex- 

 panses of Devonian rock are for the main part 

 beyond the reach, knowledge, and experience 

 of the paleobotanist. Away to the Canadian 

 Northwest and extending far into Alaska, the 

 main Devonian mass stretches for 2,000 miles 

 through the remotest region of the continent. 

 Thence scarcely a plant has come. Far or 

 near, no one goes into the Devonian field for 

 plants, and the "finds" are apt to be neglected 

 year after year. Although the world's first 

 great forests appear in the Devonian, from 

 all North America not 200 species of Devon- 

 ian plants could be named, and those mostly 

 of little satisfactory definition. 



Inasmuch as Devonian plant materials must 

 long fail to bulk up as a workable assemblage 

 without some initial and better coordinated 

 attention, I wish the invertebrate paleontolo- 

 gists and geologists who have data would sup- 

 ly them to me or to others interested, in the 

 form of bi-ief memoranda, or promptly publish 

 the same. It should shortly be possible to see 

 Devonian paleobotany on a better basis. Mean- 

 while it would be especially gratifying if some 

 attention could be given to the following in- 

 quiries : 



(1) Which are the main shale or other sections 

 where Devonian plants have been seen? 



(2) Are there good Psilophj-ton localities, — (a) 

 where stems are petrified, (6) well carbonized? 



(3) What North American localities of the 

 lower Devonian yield silicified stems large or 

 small? The British geologists cite the Cordaite, 

 Paleopitys milleri of the old Red. 



(4) Are there any North American Devonian 

 cherts containing stems comparable to Rliynia, 

 the most primitive of vascular plants, as occurring 

 in the siliceous cherts of Aberdeenshire, Scotland? 



(5) Are there any well marked seeds in the 

 Indiana Black shale, the Genesee shale, the 

 Waverleyan? Are there any typical pterido- 

 spermous, or gymnospermous seeds in the North 

 American Devonian at all? 



The enormous extent of parallelism in the 

 lines of plant descent, and the exceedingly 

 small percentage of known forms in pre- 

 Carboniferous rocks, give to every discovery 

 of plants in the Devonian a high value. It is 



to-day patent that better plant phytogenies 

 much depend on the closest attention to chron- 

 ology, and especially on new discoveries in the 

 Devonian. 



I should state that it is not my purpose to 

 take up the subject of Devonian plants but to 

 help others to do so, as I am persuaded that 

 much material of value is being lost, or too 

 long unnoted. Is it not grievous to admit that 

 in the past twenty-five years, contributions to 

 Devonian paleobotany have been so lacking 

 from North America? There is for the Waver- 

 leyan at the close of Devonian time the very 

 fine contribution of Scott and Jeiirey. And 

 from the Indiana Black shale there is the fine 

 Cordaite Callixylon Oweni of Elkins and Wie- 

 land. There the record of publication about 

 closes. 



But what possibilities of discovery there 

 must be in the rocks that yield such a stri- 

 king forest type as the "Naples tree," Proto- 

 lepidodendron, interestingly restored at the 

 State Hall at Albany! The great dearth of 

 knowledge of the Devonian plant front is due 

 to the failure to get the evidence in the field; 

 although it is admitted that hei-e discoveries 

 and collection are difiicult. It is possible to 

 search given Devonian horizons for inverte- 

 brate material with success, because oecuiTences 

 have been sought out and diligently described, 

 the continent over, for the past three or four 

 score years. The impression thus grows upon 

 us that with attention in kind, the Devonian 

 plant record for the continent would soon be 

 augmented, and that relative importance of 

 scientific subjects asks such a result. Is the 

 investigation of the Devonian to be carried on 

 only in other countries? Can we make no such 

 brilliant discoveries as those from the Devon- 

 ian cherts of Abei-deenshire? 



G. R. WiELAND 



Yale University 



THE EFFECT OF ALKALI ON THE DIGESTI- 

 BILITY OF C2LLULOSIC MATERIALS 



The communication of Professor Lindsey on 

 the above subject in your issue of February 3 

 is of considerable interest to students of cellu- 

 lose chemistry inasmuch as it indicates the 



