August 23, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



259 



ium" is an interesting contribution which 

 appeared recently in the Proceedings of the 

 Davenport Academy of Sciences. It is ac- 

 companied with a dozen excellent plates. 

 Several new species are described, namely, 

 Sigillaria calvini, Psaronius horealis, and 

 Araucarioxylon occidentale. Two modern spe- 

 cies are recognized, viz.: Picea mariana from 

 beneath the drift in Washington county, Iowa, 

 and P. canadensis from the base of the blue 

 clay in Keokuk county. 



OUR FOREST RESERVES 



Under the title of "The Use of the Na- 

 tional Forests" the United States Forest 

 Service has issued a booklet of forty-two 

 pages, giving much information in regard to 

 the National Forests (forest reserves), and in- 

 tended to explain concisely what they are for, 

 and how they should be used. A few well- 

 selected half-tone reproductions of suggestive 

 photographs add materially to what must 

 prove to be a very useful publication. 



HISTORY OP AMERICAN BOTANY 



In the June number of The Popular Science 

 Monthly Professor Underwood publishes an 

 entertaining account of the " Progress of our 

 Knowledge of the Flora of North America," 

 illustrated by half a dozen reproductions of 

 plates from the old works of Porta, Bock, 

 Cornut, Plukenet and Micheli, and a fac- 

 simile of a page of Linne's " Species Plan- 

 tarum." The paper is well worth reading, 

 especially by the younger botanists, who had 

 no part in the work of the last half of the 

 nineteenth century. 



SOUTH DAKOTA CONIFERS 



A BULLETIN of more than local interest is 

 No. 102 of the South Dakota Experiment 

 Station, devoted to " Evergreens for South 

 Dakota." It was prepared by Professor 

 Hansen, and brings together the results of 

 many years of experience upon the prairies 

 and plains of the northwest. While the treat- 

 ment is necessarily quite popular, the bulletin 

 contains much information which must prove 

 useful to the botanist who is interested in the 



relations of climate, soil and other physical 

 factors to the distribution of species. No 

 botanist can run over these pages without 

 finding that some of his notions as to the dis- 

 tribution of the conifers must undergo ma- 

 terial change. Twenty-six half-tone illustra- 

 tions help the reader to a better understand- 

 ing of the text. 



SEEDS OF COMMON GRASSES 



Much like the foregoing is bulletin No. 141 

 of the Kansas Experiment Station, in which 

 Professor Roberts and Mr. Freeman discuss 

 and illustrate the seeds of certain co mm on 

 grasses, and the common adulterants and sub- 

 stitutes. Here again the botanist who is in- 

 terested in a critical knowled^ of plants may 

 obtain many hints as to the usefulness botan- 

 ically of such work as this in our experiment 

 stations, when done as carefully as this seems 

 to have been. Few systematic botanists have 

 that accurate and detailed knowledge of the 

 " seeds " of grasses which was necessary in 

 the preparation of this bulletin. It may in- 

 deed be considered a valuable contribution to 

 the morphology of systematic botany, as well 

 as a helpful bulletin for the practical farmer. 



A TROPICAL SCHOOL OF BOTANY 



Professor Doctor Kellerman, of the Ohio 

 State University, Columbus, Ohio, has planned 

 a tropical school of botany for next winter, 

 which ought to attract the attention of 

 some of our young men who are fitting 

 themselves for their life work as teachers of 

 botany. The session extends from December 

 19 to March 19, and will be held in Guatemala, 

 Central America. The camps will be located 

 at Zacapa (100 miles from the coast), Los 

 Amates (40 miles inland), Izabal (on Lake 

 Izabal), and perhaps also at Livingston (on 

 the coast). Only a small number of young 

 men will be accepted, and those who intend 

 joining are advised to do so at the earliest 

 day possible. The fee for the three months, 

 including traveling expenses, board and 

 lodging, is $226.00. The project is one that 

 should be of interest to botanists generally, 

 as ailording excellent opportunities for in- 

 struction along unusual botanical lines. 



