MaxRcH 22, 1901.] 
Torreya is the title of a new monthly journal 
of botanical notes and, news edited for the 
Torrey Botanical Club by Dr. Marshall A. 
Howe. A half-tone medallion of Dr, John 
Torrey, in whose honor the periodical is named, 
adorns the cover. The object of the journal is 
to provide a medium for short and semi-popular 
articles and for reviews, news items, etc., the 
Bulletin of the Club being thus reserved for the 
longer and more technical papers. It is ex- 
pected that considerable prominence will be 
given to notes relative to the teaching of botan- 
ical science. The first number of Torreya 
(January) includes the following articles: 
‘Notes on Rudbeckia hirta,’ by Dr. N. L. Brit- 
ton; ‘Seedlings of Arisema,’ by Dr. D. T. 
MacDougal ; ‘ Notes on the Genus Lycopodium,’ 
by Professor F. E. Lloyd; ‘The Summit Flora 
of King’s Mountain and Crowder’s Mountain, 
North Carolina,’ by Dr. J. K. Small; ‘A simple 
Dynamometer,’ by Dr. H. M. Richards; ‘The 
rare Mosses of Bashbish Falls,’ by Mrs. N. L. 
Britton; and ‘Economy in Nature,’ by Dr. P. 
A. Rydberg. The February number contains: 
‘The Value of Forestry in a Course of Nature 
Study,’ by Miss Elizabeth Carss; ‘A new 
Hygrometer suitable for testing the Action of 
Stomata,’ by Dr. D. T. MacDougal; ‘ The Lygo- 
dium at Home,’ by Frederick H. Blodgett; ‘A 
new Senecio from Pennsylvania,’ by Dr. N. L. 
‘Britton ; and ‘ Rosellinia ovalis,’ by William A, 
Riley. ; 
Mr. Harry F. WITHERBY, who has lately 
made an expedition to the White Nile in 
search of birds, will commence, in the next 
issue of Knowledge, a series of illustrated ar- 
ticles descriptive of the country, its people, its 
wild animals and its birds. In the first instal- 
ment the author deals with his journey by 
river and the Desert Railway from Cairo to 
Khartoum, and gives his impressions of Khar- 
toum and Omdurman. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
SECTION OF BIOLOGY OF THE NEW YORK 
ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 
THE regular monthly meeting for February 
was held on the 11th, Professor C. L. Bristol 
SCIENCE. 
467 
presiding. The following program was of- 
fered ; 
D. T. MacDougal: ‘The Critical Points in the 
Relation of Light to Plants.’ 
A. G. Mayer: ‘The Variations of a Newly- 
arisen Race of Medusa.’ 
Dr. MacDougal stated that an examination 
of all the data at hand shows no correspond- 
ence among the maxima, minima and optima 
of intensities of light with regard to the various 
influences exerted upon the plant by light, and 
that the current conception of phototonus is 
not based upon well-defined generalizations. 
Etiolative phenomena of plants are irritable 
reactions, consisting chiefly in the elongation 
of organs which would carry the chlorophyll 
screens and reproductive bodies up into the 
light. Light is not necessary to the motility 
of protoplasm, nor for the activity of the 
motor mechanisms of such plants as Mimosa, 
The condition known as darkness-rigor does 
not exist. Appearances commonly supposed 
to be due to rigor of darkness are pathological 
phenomena occasioned by the disintegration 
of chlorophyll and other substances. Light 
may exert a direct chemical (disintegrative) 
effect upon the constructive material of the 
cell, but it does not retard growth; on the 
contrary, it accelerates growth in alge. 
Evidence that light exercises a paratonic in- 
fluence upon plants is not at hand, and no 
observations could be found by the speaker 
supporting the conclusion that a similar retard- 
ing influence of light upon growth occurs 
among animals. In discussion of Dr. Mac- 
Dougal’s paper, Mr. M. A. Bigelow called 
attention to some experiments made by him, 
under the direction of Professor C. B. Daven: 
port, to determine the influence of light upon 
embryonic development and post-embryonic 
growth in Amphibia. Light does not retard, 
but rather accelerates developmental processes, 
the effective rays being red in embryonic and 
blue during post-embryonic stages, 
Dr. Mayer stated that. in 1898 he had dis- 
covered a pentamerous Hydromedusa at the 
‘Tortugas, Florida, and had named it Pseudo- 
clytia pentata. In this form there are five radial 
canals, five lips, and five gonads 72° apart, in- 
stead of four of these various organs at intervals 
