August 9, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



167 



students can do is to verifiy some of them 

 by means of one or two examples which il- 

 lustrate them. JSTevertheless, the plan of 

 replacing the purely descriptive work in 

 science by something which makes the stu- 

 dents think, and makes them test the ac- 

 curacy of their conclusions by means of new 

 experiments, is greatly to be recommended. 

 E. H. K. 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS. 

 BOTANICAL GAZETTE, JULY.* 



Undeseribed Plants from Gktatemala and other 



Central American Republics, XV.: John 



DoNNELL Smith. 



For some years Captain Smith has been 

 exploring the regions named and studying 

 collections made there by others, with the 

 result of finding many new plants which 

 are being described (and some handsomely 

 figured) in this series of papers. Many of 

 the descriptions are contributed by Euro- 

 pean specialists. 

 Contributions to the embryology of the Ranuncu- 



lacece : David M. Mottiee. 



This paper, which is richly illustrated by 

 59 figures, brings to our knowledge consid- 

 erable variation in the development of the 

 embryo sac lq difierent genera of the family. 

 One of the most striking points is in the 

 announcement of the frequent occurrence 

 in this family also of more than one embrj^o 

 sac in the ovule and the presence of as 

 many as five or more initial cells of embryo 

 sacs in Caltha. 

 Observations on the development of Colletotrichum 



lindemuthianum in artificial cultures : Geo . 



F. Atkinson. 



This fungus is the one producing the 

 common spot disease (authracnose) of 

 beans. Having made many failures in 

 germinating the spores in artificial media, 

 Professor Atkinson finally succeeded and 

 gives a detailed account of his successful 



* Issued July 15, 1895. 56 pp., 3 pi. 



methods in this paper. Photomicrographs 

 reproduced in half-tone show his results. 



On the validity of some fossil species of Lirio- 



dendron: Theo. Holm. 



Mr. Holm criticises paleobotanists for 

 naming scrappy remains of leaves, and takes 

 to task especially Professor Hollick's deter- 

 minations of some cretaceous plants from 

 Long Island. 



Tlie nomenclature question : (1) Botanical nom- 

 enclature and non-systematists : W. F. Ga- 

 NONG ; (2) Dr. Robinson and homonyms: 



FeEDERICK y. COVILLE. 



The nomenclature question is attracting 

 a great deal of attention at present among 

 botanists. In the first named contribution 

 to the discussion Professor Ganong opposes 

 the proposed reform, because it violates the 

 psychological principles of the use of lan- 

 guage, and because it is not likely to obtain 

 a sufficient following to make its nomencla- 

 ture intelligible. Mr. Coville points out the 

 advantageous working of the law of the 

 rejection of homonyms in a real case, as op- 

 posed to its disadvantageous working in the 

 case supposed in a previous note by Dr. 

 Eobinson. 



In Briefer Articles Mr. M. L. Fernald de- 

 scribes a new dandelion with red fruits 

 (Taraxacum erythrospermum Andrz.) which 

 has made its appearance in New England ; 

 an account is given of the Gilbreth botan- 

 ical collection recently presented to Ead- 

 cliffe College ; Professor W. A. Keller man 

 reports an appareutlj^ authentic case of 

 poisoning of children by eating shepherd's 

 purse ; Mr. C. L. Pollard describes a new 

 variety of the arrow-leaved violet ( Viola 

 sagittata Hicksii) from the District of Colum- 

 bia ; and Dr. L. M. Underwood figures a 

 curiously deformed Equisetum, presumably 

 E. hiemale. 



Under Current Literature are reviewed 

 Oliver's 'Natural History of Plants,' a 

 translation of Kerner's ' Pflanzenleben '; 



