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NOTES, NEWS AND COMMENT. 
Dr. and Mrs. N. L. Britton and Dr. Arthur Hollick sailed for 
Kingston, Jamaica, on February 22. They have planned to 
make collections at the western end of the island, and a Bahamian 
schooner has been chartered for this purpose. It is expected 
that a stop will be made in eastern Cuba on the return voyage 
early in Apri 
Some inuerestag and very successful experiments with color 
photography were recently made in the conservatories of the 
arden by Mr. F. C. Berte. 
Twenty- ae sets of duplicate polypores, representing nearly a 
hundred of our more common species, have recently been sent 
out by the Garden to certain botanical institutions in the eastern 
United States and Europe. 
Vol. 9, part 2, of the North American Flora, appeared March 
12, 1908. This part concludes the treatment of the polypores, 
and contains most of the large tree-destroying fungi of special 
interest to foresters. 
An attractive Philippine shrub, Medinilla magnifica, described 
and figured in the JournaL for July, 1907, is now‘in flower in 
the public conservatories, house no. 4. 
The seedling of Zumboa Bainesii, described in the October 
number of the JouRNAL, has made considerable growth since 
that time. By reference to the lower figure there shown it may 
be seen that the leaves which are eventually to be the perma- 
nent ones are considerably shorter than the cotyledons. Now 
they are at least three eighths of an inch longer than the seed 
leaves. The only other change of note is the flesh color that has 
gradually come over the whole plant; but as yet there is nothing 
that gives one a hint as to the remarkable adult form that it is 
hoped the plant may some day attain. 
Among the cyclamens represented in the conservatories, Cycla- 
men Neapolitanum has avery curious arrangement of its seed pods. 
After the flower has dropped off, the stalk with the immature fruit 
begins to spirally contract, so that when the seed is ready to be 
discharged the pod is tightly held ina closely coiled spiral which 
