Decembeb 27, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



913 



tation. This is a good beginning, and should 

 be followed by action on the part of the so- 

 ciety and the section which will continue and 

 extend it. 



SHORT NOTES ON RECENT PAPERS 



An interesting and useful hundred-page 

 pamphlet entitled '" London Botanical Gar- 

 dens," by Pierre E. F. Perredes, is published 

 by the Wellcome Chemical Research Labora- 

 tories, of London. In addition to the descrip- 

 tive text it includes thirty-one full-page plates, 

 mostly reproductions of photographs. 



Among recent papers by Professor Doctor A. 

 J. Ewart, the government botanist for Vic- 

 toria, Australia, are " The Function of Silica 

 in the Nutrition of Cereals," " Contributions 

 to the Flora of Australia " and " The Move- 

 ments of the Soluble Constituents in Fine 

 Alluvial Soils." 



J. G. Luehmann's " Dichotomous Key to the 

 hitherto known Species of Eucalyptus," al- 

 though read before the Australasian Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science nearly 

 ten years ago, is worthy of mention now, as 

 being most useful to persons interested in this 

 genus of trees, as must be the case especially 

 with our Pacific coast botanists. 



" The Leguminosae of Porto Rico," by Miss 

 Janet Russell Perkins, published as Part 4 of 

 Volume X. of the Contributions from the 

 United States National Herbarium, is a well- 

 written and very interesting pajoer of almost 

 ninety pages. The " local names " given for 

 most of the species, must prove very useful to 

 American residents or others who are inter- 

 ested in the botany of the island. A complete 

 manual prepared after this model would be a 

 most useful work. 



Shortly after the death of Dr. Otto Kuntze 

 a catalogue was made of his extensive lierba- 

 rium, which is now offered for sale. It is con- 

 tained in 467 cardboard boxes, and probably 

 includes between twenty and thirty thousand 

 specimens. Further information may be ob- 

 tained by addressing " Villa Girola, San 

 Remo, Italy." 



Six papers have been received in advance of 

 their publication in the Eighteenth Annual 

 Report of the Missouri Botanical Garden, viz. : 

 " The Literature of Furcraea with a Synopsis 



of the known Species," by J. R. Drummond; 

 " Branch Cankers of Rhododendron " and 

 " Frost Injuries of Sycamore Buds," by Her- 

 mann von Schrenk; "Plantae Lindheimerianae, 

 part III.," by J. W. Blankinship ; " Additions 

 to the Genus Yucca" and "Agave macroa- 

 cantlia and allied Euagaves," by Dr. William 

 Trelease. Most of these are contributions to 

 our knowledge of Mexico and southwest 

 United States botany, in continuation of simi- 

 lar work which has hitherto come from the 

 Missouri Botanical Garden. 



While there is no formal botany in the 

 " Proceedings of the Iowa Park and Forestry 

 Association " attention may be called to it 

 here on account of its interest in the planting 

 and preservation of trees, and the unusual 

 beauty of illustrations, paper and presswork 

 shown in this state report. 



In the November number of the " Journal 

 of Botany " there appears a portrait and an 

 appreciative sketch of the life and work of the 

 late Edward A. L. Batters, an English bot- 

 anist, and well-known student of the marine 

 algfe. 



In the number of the " Berichte der deutsch- 

 en Botanischen Gesellsohaft " for August 28, 

 A. B. Reagan publishes a list of plants ob- 

 served on the Rosebud Indian Reservation of 

 South Dakota, which contains so many obvi- 

 ous errors and oinissions, as to give a wholly 

 erroneous idea as to the flora of the country. 

 This reservation is in the extreme southern 

 portion of the state, adjoining Nebraska on 

 the south, and lying on both sides of the one- 

 hundredth meridian west of Greenwich. The 

 flora of this part of the Great Plains has been 

 pretty well known to western botanists for a 

 decade or more, and yet we are asked to believe 

 that Vitis cestivalis. Elms copallina, Bosa 

 humilis, Rosa rubiginosa^ Fraxinus americana, 

 Quercus oMusiloha, Popidus heterophylla and 

 Pinus hanhsiana occur in the region. These 

 are certainly erroneous determinations. In 

 passing we may enter a protest against such 

 a nomenclatural monstrosity as Prunus rose- 

 hudii, which is proposed for what the author 

 takes to be a new species of sand cherry. 



Charles E. Besset 



The Urivebsity or Nebraska 



