584 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 798 



in the Presence of Mercury or Chloroform," 

 by M. E. Eehfuss and P. B. Hawk. Neither 

 mercuric chloride nor chloroform interferes 

 with Nylander's test for sugar performed in 

 the manner described by these authors. " A 

 Study of Nylander's Eeaction," by M. E. 

 Eehfuss and P. B. Hawk. A study of various 

 methods of performing the test, its delicacy, 

 the effects of temperature and the influence 

 of a variety of substances upon it (drugs and 

 urinary constituents). "Effects of Soluble 

 Salts upon Insokible Phosphates," by J. E. 

 Greaves. Various salts such as sulphates, 

 chlorides, nitrates of sodium, calcium, am- 

 monium or magnesium may increase the 

 solubility of the insoluble phosphates and so 

 indirectly affect the growth of plants. 



BOTANICAL NOTES 



PAPERS ON TREES 



Three papers upon the hawthorns (Cra- 

 taegus) have come to hand during the past 

 few months. The first by W. W. Eggleston — 

 " The Crataegi of Mexico and Central Amer- 

 ica" {Torrey Bull., 1909) — describes the wild 

 species and varieties of these countries, ten in 

 number, of which four species and two varie- 

 ties are here named for the first time. The 

 author remarks that " the genus Crataegus, 

 south of the United States, seems confined to 

 the tablelands of Mexico, and southward 

 through the highlands of the Andes. In Mex- 

 ico the fruit is of much economic importance, 

 being often found in the markets, and the 

 trees are guarded as carefully as other fruit 

 trees are with us." 



The same author in a later number of the 

 Torrey Bulletin under the title " New North 

 American Crataegi," describes three new 

 species from (1) Texas, (2) North Carolina, 

 eastern Tennessee and southern Virginia and 

 (3) Montana. 



Professor Sargent has been studying the 

 " American Crataegi in the Species Plan- 

 iarum of Linnaeus " (in Bhodora, 1909) in 

 the Plukenet Herbarium (British Museum), 

 and in the Linnaean Herbarium. Crataegus 

 viridis is identical with C. viridis of the 

 southeastern United States. C. crus-galli 



can not certainly be identified with any of 

 our species. Of C. tomentosa he says " it is 

 not possible to guess even at the plant de- 

 scribed by Linnaeus " under this name. C. 

 coccinea is in such confusion that Professor 

 Sargent abandons the name, and substi- 

 tutes for it the name C. rotundifolia, var. 

 piibera. 



Ivar Tidestrom's " Notes on Populus, 

 Plinius " (in Midland Naturalist, 1909) at- 

 tempts to distinguish Populus alba, P. canes- 

 cens and P. alba bolleana. His discussions 

 and descriptions are made plainer by two 

 plates. 



Before leaving Vennont for Wisconsin 

 Professor L. E. Jones completed with the aid 

 of F. V. Eand a most useful paper on " Ver- 

 mont Shrubs and Woody Vines " (Bull. 145, 

 Vermont Experiment Station), including 

 figures and descriptions of the smaller woody 

 plants of his state. He enumerates 135 

 species, and this does not include any species 

 of Crataegus, this genus being passed over 

 with only a characterization of the "groups." 

 The excellent and life-like cuts (by Mary 

 Eobinson) enable one to follow the text de- 

 scriptions very easily. We wish here to re- 

 cord our conviction that bulletins of this 

 kind, although not " agricultural " in the 

 narrower sense, are very properly included 

 among the publications of the Agricultural 

 Experiment Stations, since they bring to all 

 who are interested in trees and shrubs much 

 information which must lie at the founda- 

 tion of many " practical " investigations. 



Professor Shimek discusses " A Hybrid 

 Oak " (in Proc. Iowa Academy of Sciences, 

 1909) and by comparisons and figures shows 

 it to be pretty certainly a hybrid of Quercus 

 imbricaria and Q. palustris. 



Allied somewhat remotely to the foregoing 

 papers is H. H. Bartlett's article on " The 

 Submarine Chamaeeyparis Bog at Woods 

 Hole, Massachusetts," in Bhodora, December, 

 1909. A photograph shows well the roots of 

 trees that once grew at levels now covered at 

 high tide. 



Professor Shimek read a paper on " The 

 Eelation of Forestry to Engineering " early in 



