April 11, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



589 



dogs, and even for man. They were taken in 

 large numbers in the brush weirs used for 

 catching small herring on the coast of Maine, 

 and in the same locality often became a nui- 

 sance by clogging the nets of the smelt sein- 

 ers. The speaker then discussed the synonymy 

 of the group at some leng-th, stating that while 

 he had at his command but few specimens 

 from Europe, there seemed to be three species 

 distinguished bj^ varying conditions of body 

 armature and caudal keel. These were Gas- 

 terosteus aculeatus, G. semiarinatus and G. 

 gymnurus. The Pacific forms had been dis- 

 posed of by Rutter as G. cataphracius (Pal- 

 las) (possibly the same as G. aculeatus) ; G. 

 microcephalus Girard, and G. caiaphractus 

 williamsoni; G. microcephalus being consid- 

 ered as merely an intermediate form. 



On the Atlantic coast there seemed to be 

 no intergrading of species and Mr. Kendall 

 considered that for the present these should 

 stand as follows : Gasterosteus aculeatus Lin- 

 najus, G. cuvieri Girard, G. atltinsoni Bean 

 and G. hispinosus Walbaum. This last was 

 widely distinct from G. aculeatus and was not 

 the G. hispinosus of Jordan and Evermann. 



W. H. Dall gave some 'Notes on Trophon,' 

 in which he traced the history of the genus 

 Trophon of Montfort, which is of distinctly 

 Purpuroid affinities and had long been eon- 

 fused with the Fusoid group named by Sars 

 Boreotrophon, but which the speaker showed 

 would have to take the earlier name of Nep- 

 tunea Bolten. 



The typical Trophons are chiefly austral in 

 their distribution, but Mr. Dall has discov- 

 ered that a certain number of species have 

 succeeded in migrating northward until they 

 have reached the North Temperate Zone. An 

 interesting group of these occurs on the coast 

 of California, but the more northern migrants 

 are stunted and inconspicuous. 



E. S. Steele gave an account of 'The Vege- 

 tation of Stony Man Mountain, near Luray, 

 Virginia,' being a summary of observations 

 made during August and early September of 

 1901. Nine conifers were noted, the most 

 interesting being Ahies Fraseri, the Eraser 

 balsam fir, of which this may possibly be the 

 farthest outpost northward. Juncus irifidus, 



sparingly known so far south, was collected 

 on the peak. An apparent form of Gyperus 

 Houghtoni with few flowers to the spikelet 

 was found on a high headland of rock, and 

 near it was a patch of Arctostaphylos Uvaursi, 

 both plants far out of their supposed range. 

 On the same ridge occurred Astragalus Caro- 

 linianus, unexpected at this altitude. Anychia 

 divaricata Eaf., a species long neglected, was 

 studied in connection with A. dichotoma, and 

 its independence vindicated. Solidago Randii 

 Britton, a supposedly northern species, was 

 found on all high ledges. Data were given 

 concerning a species of Lflcinaria believed to 

 be the true Serratula pilosa Ait. Aquilegia 

 coccinea Small and Aronia atropurpurea Brit- 

 ton, recently described species, were reported, 

 as also the rather recent Bubus rarihaecus 

 Rydberg and Vitis Baileyanus Munson. 



F. A. Lucas. 



TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB. 



At the meeting of the Club on February 

 26, the flrst paper was by Dr. John K. Small, 

 on the ' North American Genera of the Cas- 

 siacese,' and will soon appear in print. Dis- 

 cussion followed regarding Poinceana, partic- 

 ipated in by Dr. Britton, Dr. Underwood and 

 Dr. Small. 



The second paper, by Dr. Arthur HoUick, on 

 the 'Flora of Provincetown, Mass.,' was 

 accompanied by a series of maps, charts, views 

 and mounted plant specimens. Dr. Hollick 

 discussed the dependence of this flora upon 

 the local geology, and remarked of Cape Cod 

 that the older part from Highland Light 

 through Truro has a surface of glacial drift; 

 the recent part, through Provincetown to the 

 north and west, consists of drifted sands, all 

 post-glacial, derived from the older coast to 

 the south and due to the general trend of the 

 tides and currents northward. The result is 

 to form a line of shoals along the coast now 

 united into an outer beach ; the space between 

 this and the shore is now filling in and becom- 

 ing swamp, and a new outer line of shoals 

 is already forming. Nothing larger now 

 grows on the sand-dunes than small stunted 

 pines and oaks; but Bradford's account indi- 

 cates that in 1620 it was covered with large 



