Mat 18, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



785 



a city house, where the space between any two 

 houses is not more that eight feet in width, 

 so that it receives very little direct sunlight. 

 Below the thin coating of sod the substratum 

 is composed mostly of debris from the build- 

 ing operations, such as pieces of tin, bricks, 

 slate and pebbles. For two years an attempt 

 was made to grow grass on this strip, but 

 without success. 



In 1903, a number of wild plants including 

 diminutive trees, smal^shrubs and perennial 

 herbaceous plants, in all about a hundred 

 species were added. The plants have been 

 distributed so as to give the best ornamental 

 effect. At intervals of several feet through 

 the middle of the strip the small trees and 

 shrubs and larger herbaceous perennials, as 

 blue cohosh and black snakeroot,*are planted. 

 Between these are the smaller plants, the more 

 attractive and those producing the most 

 flowers being near the front, as violets, wild 

 geranium, etc. A few rocks are placed near 

 some of the ferns, columbines, and other 

 plants which seem to prefer a rocky situation. 

 There is a procession of flowers from early 

 spring when the bloodroot, hepaties and spring 

 beauties make their appearance, until faU 

 when the asters and other plants are in bloom. 

 Not only is there a succession of flowers, but 

 the foliage is also of interest and beauty. 

 The ferns and bloodroot are specially inter- 

 esting when the leaves are unfolding, and in 

 the late fall the yellow leaves of the spice 

 bush and tulip poplar, the red leaves of the 

 maple and dogwood, and also the red berries 

 of the jack-in-the-pulpit and Solomon's seal, 

 the blue berries of the blue cohosh, are very 

 attractive at a time when the flowering season 

 has gone by. 



The desirability of preserving individual 

 trees and strips of woodland in the suburbs of 

 cities was considered, and the opinion ex- 

 pressed that if a universal sentiment were 

 created in favor of this, the means would be 

 forthcoming for the purchase and protection 

 of trees and wooded lots. In this connection 

 the statement was made ' that there is' no 

 item of taxation which the people of London 



more cheerfully pay than those for the main- 

 tenance of small parks.' 



C. Stuart Gager, 



Secretary. 



DISCV,^8I0N AND OOHRESPONDENGE. 



C. S. RAFINESQDE ON EVOLUTION". 



Eecent discussions in Science relating to 

 evolution, its nature and terminology, call to 

 mind a very remarkable letter written in 1832 

 by Rafinesque and published by him in the 

 'fifth number for the spring of 1833' of his 

 Atlantic Journal and ' Friend of Knowledge.' * 

 This letter, which in many respects reads so 

 curiously modern, seems to deserve reproduc- 

 tion here. The first part of it, it is true, has 

 been quoted in Call's ' Life and "Writings of 

 Rafinesque ' " but the last half of the letter is 

 not the least interesting part. Asa Gray^ also 

 quotes a sentence of it, and Darwin* refers to 

 two sentences in Rafinesque's ' New Flora of 

 North America,' ° which show indication of 

 Rafinesque being an evolutionist. The repro- 

 duction here is not so much for the purpose 

 of calling attention to the latter fact, but 

 rather to emphasize the essentially modern 

 phraseology employed. 



Copied verbatim, literatim et punctuatim 

 it is as follows: 



124. Principles of the Philosophy of new (Jenera 

 and new species of Plants and Animals. Ex- 

 tract of a letter to Dr. J. Torrey of 'Sew York 

 dated 1st Deo. 1832. ... I shall soon come out 

 with my avowed principles about Gr.[enera] and 

 Sp. [eeies] partly announced 1814 in my principles 

 of Semiology, and which my experience and re- 

 searches ever since have confirmed. The truth is 

 that Species and perhaps Genera also, are form- 

 ing in organized beings by gradual deviations of 

 shapes, forms and [p. 164] organs, taking place 

 in the lapse of time. There is a tendency to de- 

 viations and mutations through plants and ani- 

 mals of gradual steps at remote irregular periods. 

 This is a part of the great universal law of 

 PEEPETUAi. MUTABILITY in every thing. 



'Vol. 1., Philadelphia, No. 5, pp. 163-164. 



' From ' Herbarium Rafinesquianum,' 1833, pp. 

 11-15. 



" Silliman's Amer. Jour. Sci. Art., XL., 1841, p. 

 239. 



' ' Orig. Species,' 4th ed., 1866, p. xvi. 



" 1836, pp. 6 and 18. 



