June 6, 1902 ] 



SCIENCE. 



903 



beyond the elongating zone. Rheotropism is 

 not a transitory phenomenon, but persists in 

 the maturing plant. It is perhaps a response 

 to pressure, though terrestrial roots are not 

 known to be sensitive to pressure. Kiichi 

 Miyake writes 'On the Starch in Evergreen 

 Leaves and its Relation to Photosynthesis 

 during the Winter.' The work was carried 

 on at the Tokyo Imperial University and the 

 conclusions reached have to do with conditions 

 in Japan. The starch in evergreen leaves in 

 general begins to decrease in November, reach- 

 ing its minimum during January, and in- 

 creasing again from the end of February. 

 During the winter many evergreen leaves eon- 

 tain starch, and this starch, as experiments 

 showed, is formed by photosynthesis in win- 

 ter and its translocation occurs in the same 

 season. This phenomenon is true of middle 

 and southern Japan, but in northern Japan 

 most evergTeen leaves lose their starch in 

 winter. The opening of the stomata in winter 

 was also observed in some evergreen leaves 

 in Tokyo. James B. Overton describes 

 'Parthenogenesis in Thalicirum purpuras- 

 cens.' Embryos were produced parthenoge- 

 netically under all artifical conditions, and 

 wild material showed the phenomenon to be 

 general in nature. The cytoplasm of the early 

 stages of the sac is closely packed about the 

 egg, which later becomes surrounded by a 

 modified zone which may affect the osmotic 

 pressure and indicate a withdrawal of water, 

 causing the egg to divide. No differences 

 could be detected in the development and 

 vigor of normal and parthenogenetic embryos, 

 except that the latter is slower in starting. 

 Thalicirum is the third genus of angiosperms 

 in which parthenogenesis has been recorded, 

 the others being Antennaria, described by 

 Juel, and Alchemilla, described by Murbeck. 

 E. G. Leavitt describes some subterranean 

 plants of Epiphegus, which were dwarf speci- 

 mens, buried one or two inches deep, but with 

 flowers and fruit in all stages of development. 

 D. G. Eairchild, in continuing his 'Notes of 

 Travel,' describes the bright-colored autumn 

 foliage of American trees in Europe, special 

 mention being made of Quercus ruhra and 



Acer dasycarpum. T. D. A. Cockerell de- 

 scribes a new Heliotropium from New Mexico. 



The May number of Popular Astronomy 

 has two brief articles by J. E. Gore, of Eng- 

 land; the one on 'Immensity and Minuteness' 

 brings out the vastness of the numbers dealt 

 with in astronomy, and contrasts them with 

 the minuteness of atoms as revealed by the 

 microscope. He cites as illustrations that 

 the distance of the nearest fixed star is 

 271,000 times the distance of the sun, and 

 the fact that certain forms of infusoria are 

 so minute that an individual specimen can lie 

 between two divisions of an inch divided into 

 25,000 parts. Mr. Gore's second article gives 

 his' new method of computing the value of 

 starlight in terms of moonlight. William 

 L. Hornsby, for some years a resident of 

 China, writes from Macao of 'The Chinese 

 Calendar.' He finds that calendars in China, 

 date back to their earliest classic records, and 

 traces the history of their calendars to modern 

 times including extracts from those of the 

 present day, which show a curious mixture 

 of astrology, superstition and astronomy. 

 Other popular articles are 'Shadows Cast by 

 Starlight,' by Henry Morris Eussell, and an 

 account of the appearance of the 'The Stellar 

 Floor' as seen through the clear steady atmos- 

 phere at Mt. Lome Observatory, by Edgar L. 

 Larkin; also a review of the Solar Observa- 

 tions of 1900, and a brief account by Dr. T. 

 D. Anderson, the discoverer of Nova Persei, 

 of his 'Searching for New Stars.' 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



SIXTH REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOTANICAL 



SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



The sixth regular meeting of the Botanical 

 Society of Washington was held at the Portner 

 Hotel, March 29, 1902, with President A. F. 

 Woods in the chair. At the conclusion of the 

 business meeting, Mr. A. J. Pieters, chairman 

 of the program for the evening, was called on 

 to preside. 



Professor A. S. Hitchcock discussed a pecul- 

 iar specimen of short-leaf pine which he had 

 observed. The tree had been girdled and had 

 continued growing above the wound, so that 



