346 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 583. 



The meeting of January 31, 1906, was held 

 at the New York Botanical Garden. Presi- 

 dent Ensby presided, and twenty-seven per- 

 sons were present. 



Dr. Britton exhibited the photographic re- 

 production of the ' Dioscurides Codex Anicise 

 Julians picturis illustratus, nunc Vindobo- 

 nensis.Med. gr. I phototypice editus,' recently 

 acquired by the Library of the New York 

 Botanical Garden. 



This work is of the utmost importance in 

 the study of the history of botany, on account 

 of the large number of pictures of plants 

 which were for the most part based on orig- 

 inals presumably of the fifth century, and are 

 now here reproduced in facsimile for the first 

 time. The original manuscript is one of the 

 treasures of the Imperial Library of Vienna. 

 It is said to date from 512 a.d., and was 

 written and the miniatures painted for the 

 Princess Anicia Juliana, of Byzantium, and 

 is the basis of all the early herbals. The work 

 is Vol. 10 of the ' Codices Grseci et Latini 

 Photographici Depicti,' a series of reproduc- 

 tions of valuable manuscripts issued under 

 the editorial supervision of Dr. de Vries, the 

 librarian of the University of Leyden. It 

 consists of two folio volumes bound in heavy 

 oak boards and is a faithful facsimile of the 

 celebrated original, reproducing it down to the 

 smallest fragment. The plates are of great 

 beauty and remarkable for a certain vigorous 

 distinction and decorative character that illus- 

 trators of the present day would do well to 

 study. Not the least interesting are the 

 miniatures showing groups of physicians and 

 botanists in conclave, painters at work on 

 plant pictures, the portrait of the lady Juli- 

 ana, herself, and lastly a most beautiful orna- 

 mental title page. Historical, prefatory and 

 descriptive matter are by Anton von Premer- 

 stein, Carl Wessely, and Joseph Mantauni. 



Previous to the present reproduction, plates 

 of this manuscript were prepared under the 

 supervision of Jaequin, two impressions of 

 which are known to be in existence, the one 

 having been in the possession of Linnseus is 

 now in the library of the Linnsean Society of 

 London ; the other was sent to Sibthorpe to 



be used in the compiling of his ' Flora Graeca.' 

 This last copy is now preserved at Oxford. 



The first paper on the program as an- 

 nounced was by Professor L. M. Underwood, 

 on ' Six New Fern Genera in the United 

 States.' Professor Underwood gave a brief 

 account of the additions to the fern flora of 

 the United States since the year 1900. Six 

 genera and over forty species are included in 

 the list which also includes several species 

 new to science. The list will appear in the 

 Bulletin for March. The genera new to the 

 country, and some of the more interesting 

 species were exhibited. The paper was dis- 

 cussed by President Rusby and Dr. Murrill. 



The second paper was by Mr. H. A. Gleason, 

 entitled, ' Notes on the Flora of Southern 

 Illinois.' The southern portion of Illinois is 

 crossed by an eastern prolongation of the 

 Ozark Mountains, which have a marked in- 

 fluence on the rainfall. The flora is char- 

 acterized by the presence of about four hun- 

 dred species of distinctively southern plants, 

 constituting three separate floras, each of 

 which has entered the state from a different 

 direction. Of these, the most sharply defined 

 is the coastal plain flora which has entered 

 the region by migrating up the Mississippi 

 Eiver from the south. The extensive cypress 

 swamps are largely composed of coastal spe- 

 cies. An Alleghenian element has crossed the 

 highland region of Kentucky and southern 

 Indiana, and is well represented in Illinois in 

 the area of heavy rainfall along the Ozark 

 hills. The third is a southwestern flor^, char- 

 acterized mainly by xerophilous species. They 

 have migrated along the Ozark uplift through 

 Missouri, but in Illinois they have for the 

 most part left the hills for the arid region just 

 to the north. The three migration routes 

 all follow ecological isotones and the three 

 floras ai'e never associated. 



The last paper was by Mr. E. S. Williams, 

 on ' Plant Collecting in the Philippines.' The 

 speaker gave an account of his recent botan- 

 ical journey to the islands, describing briefly 

 the country and its inhabitants, and some of 

 his experiences in collecting. 



Professor Underwood was asked to act as 



