922 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 598. 



Proterozoic elastics and the Archeozoic crys- 

 tallines. 



Charles E. Keyes. 

 New Mexico School of Mines. 



BOTANICAL NOTES. 

 STUDIES OF ISLAND VEGETATION. 



Two contributions to Atlantic island floras 

 have recently appeared dealing with the plants 

 of the Bahamas and the Bermudas respect- 

 ively. Dr. Charles F. Millspaugh's ' Con- 

 tributions to a Flora of the Bahamian Archi- 

 pelago ' issued (under the title ' Praenunciae 

 Bahamenses, I.') by the Field Columbian 

 Museum in February, 1906, is the first of a 

 proposed series intended thoroughly to cover 

 the flora of these islands. A large amount of 

 material collected by many botanists has been 

 brought together for the use of Dr. Millspaugh 

 in his study of the species. The principal 

 collectors represented are L. J. K. Brace (1875 

 to 1905) ; N. L. Britton (1904^5) ; E. G. Brit- 

 ton (1905); W. C. Coker (1903); Wm. 

 Cooper (1859); A. H. Curtiss (1903); F. S. 

 Earle (1903); M. A. Howe (1904^5); C. F. 

 Millspaugh (1904^5); G. V. Nash and IST. 

 Taylor (1904) ; A. R. Northrop (1890) ; J. T. 

 Rothrock and A. S. Hitchcock (1890) ; A. E. 

 Wright (1905). The families of plants rep- 

 resented in this paper are Amaranihaceae, 

 Euphorhiaceae, Rubiaceae, Verbenaceae and 

 Solanaceae. New species are described in 

 each of these families, aggregating fourteen 

 in all, and two new genera of Verlienaceae 

 are characterized. It is noteworthy that both 

 generic and specific descriptions are in Latin, 

 in accordance with the growing feeling among 

 botanists that all new descriptions should be 

 so written. 



The second paper is a ' List of Plants Col- 

 lected in Bermuda in 1905 ' by Albert H. 

 Moore. It is the result of collections made 

 by Mr. Moore in Bermuda in July and Au- 

 gust, 1905. The specimens (with few excep- 

 tions) were determined by comparison in the 

 Gray Herbarium of Harvard University. As 

 a result we have a list of 221 species, two of 

 which are new to science. The latter are 

 illustrated by reproductions of photographs. 



Eleven species are listed as endemic in Ber- 

 muda, including three ferns, a juniper, two 

 sedges, a palm, a SisyrincMum, an Elaeo- 

 dendron (tree of a new species), a Statice, 

 and an Erigeron. The descriptions are in 

 Latin here also, and the nomenclature is in 

 accord with the rules adopted in the Vienna 

 congress last year. 



From the other side of the world we have a 

 pamphlet of about one hundred pages devoted 

 to Philippine plants, and containing five 

 papers, viz. : ' New and Noteworthy Philippine 

 Plants, IV.' ; ' Notes on Cuming's Philippine 

 Plants in the Herbarium of the Bureau of 

 Government Laboratories ' ; ' Notes on Philip- 

 pine Gramineae ' ; ' Scitamineae Philippen- 

 ses'; 'Philippine Acanthaceae.' Many new 

 species are described, two of which are of 

 especial interest, viz: Acer philippinum and 

 Fraxinus philippensis. Neither one of these 

 genera had been known previously on the 

 islands. The Gramineae are treated by 

 Hackel, the well-known agrostologist of Gratz, 

 Austria. 



In this connection mention should be made 

 of The Philippine Journal of Science, the 

 first number of which was issued by the 

 Bureau of Science of the Government of the 

 Philippine Islands in January of the present 

 year. Its purpose is the publication of the 

 researches of the Bureau of Science. There 

 are to be ten numbers a year, aggregating ap- 

 proximately one thousand pages, and these 

 are to take the place of the bulletins hitherto 

 issued by the government laboratories. The 

 subscription price is placed at five dollars per 

 •year. 



ANOTHER NOMENCLATURE RULE. 



In his ' Leaflets ' issued April 10, 1906, Dr. 

 E. L. Greene prints a timely and vigorous 

 protest against the dedication of more than 

 one genus to any man, however eminent, and 

 calls attention to the practise of some of the 

 earlier masters of botany, who promptly sup- 

 pressed duplicate names. Thus Dr. Torrey 

 rejected Wiitea, proposed by Kunth in honor 

 of De Witt Clinton, with the comment ' it 

 would be inadmissible to bestow two genera 

 on the same person,' holding that Clintonia 



