Apbil 20, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



621 



River. The distribution of these species in 

 the state and their relative abundance was 

 noted, and in addition a brief outline of 

 their general habits was given. 



Seasonal Rhythms of Growth: W. W. 

 Hastings. (By title.) 



The Latest Enumeration of Nebraska 



Grasses: C. E. Bessey. 



In a recently published eatalognie of the 

 grasses of Nebraska in the Annual Report 

 of the Nebraska State Board of Agricul- 

 ture (1904), one hundred and fifty native 

 and fifty introduced species are recorded. 

 This is the largest number ever included in 

 any authentic list of the grasses of the 

 state. While recent reexaminations of 

 certain specimens make a few changes of 

 names necessary, the aggregates remain as 

 already stated. It is not unlikely, how- 

 ever, that a still more critical study of the 

 wild grasses will add a number of species 

 to the present list. The popular impres- 

 sion that the number of species of grasses 

 in the state is diminishing is erroneous. 

 Of certain species there are fewer indi- 

 viduals, but there are few if any cases in 

 which any grasses have completely disap- 

 peared from a region. 



The Oil Region around Cleveland, Fawnee 

 County, Oklahoma: E. G. Woodruff. 

 The most important oil field in Oklahoma 

 to-day is the one surrounding the city of 

 Cleveland in eastern Pawnee County. A 

 brief history of this field was given, with 

 notes on the number of wells, the amount 

 and nature of the oil, and the enormous 

 gas fiow. One four-inch pipe line carries 

 a stream of crude petroleum night and 

 day; another line of six-inch diameter is 

 almost completed. The city is heated by 

 natural gas from the wells, and street lights 

 burn night and day, while millions of cubic 

 feet of gas are going to waste. 



Oil and Gas Possibilities in Nebraska: G. 



E. CONDRA. 



The possibility of oil and gas in paying 

 quantities in Nebraska has led to a demand 

 for a careful stratigraphic study, especially 

 in the southeastern part of the state. The 

 stratigraphic relations of the Carbonifer- 

 ous series of Nebraska to the oil regions to 

 the south was studied during seven trips 

 across Kansas, Oklahoma and the Indian 

 Territory. Certain Pennsylvanian forma- 

 tions and at least two members of the 

 Permian that outcrop in southeastern Ne- 

 braska were found to extend, with little 

 change, to near the oil and gas fields. The 

 study of the stratigraphy of southeastern 

 Nebraska has shown that the Cherokee 

 shales, the principal oil-bearing beds of 

 Kansas, lie 2,000 feet below the Nemaha 

 Valley. Only one well has been put down 

 to this depth. Further west in Nebraska, 

 in the region around Cambridge, the pos- 

 sible oil- and gas-bearing formations are 

 the Grandose and the Dakota, but neither 

 formation yields much oil in any region. 

 There are a few favorable indications that 

 oil and gas may occur in paying quantities 

 in Nebraska, but many of the conditions 

 are unfavorable. 



Some Structural Peculiarities of the Rice 



Pistil: Elda R. Walker. 



Rice pistils show several peculiarities 

 which seem to indicate that they are tri- 

 carpellary. In the pistil there are three 

 fibro-vascular bundles. Of these one goes 

 to each of the two style branches and the 

 other bears the ovule. This bundle typi- 

 cally stops a short distance above the ovary 

 cavity near the level at which the style 

 branches separate. However, in a few 

 cases pistils are found with three style 

 branches. It seems then that the style 

 branches of the typical pistil represent two 

 carpels and that the other carpel is re- 

 duced, only extending to the top of the 

 ovary. The pistil is then apparently com- 

 posed of two sterile carpels and the reduced 

 fertile carpel. 



