632 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXV. No. 642 



others who need help, and this is the key to 

 the treatment throughout its pages. The 

 second general topic includes woodland vegeta- 

 tion, grassland vegetation, desert vegetation, 

 water vegetation, salt-water vegetation, the 

 vegetation of alkaline soils, and sand vegeta- 

 tion. Here again the author has made a very 

 clear statement of the subjects taken up, and 

 no teacher will find much difficulty in follow- 

 ing and applying his discussion. The pam- 

 phlet should prove of great value to the teach- 

 ers and pupils in the schools and colleges of 

 Texas. 



Gardner's studies of the cyanophyceae 

 In the November number of the University 

 of California Publications Nathaniel L. Gard- 

 ner publishes an interesting paper on the blue- 

 green algae under the title ' Cytological 

 Studies in Cyanophyceae,' in which he re- 

 views the work of previous investigators, and 

 adds many observations of his own. He 

 refers to his good fortune in being located 

 where there is an abundance and variety of 

 material at all seasons of the year, yielding 

 him over one hundred species which he has 

 collected and studied. In his investigations 

 he has been very ingenious, as when he sepa- 

 rates Oscillatorias and related forms from 

 sand by making use of their motility, the 

 threads ' crawling ' out of the debris and this 

 giving him pure cultures with little difficulty. 

 He devised also an ingenious method of 

 getting end views of Oscillatoria cells without 

 having to make microtome sections. This is 

 done by killing the plants in a strong solution 

 of iodine in potassium iodide (ten to thirty 

 minutes) and then washing in 95 per cent, 

 alcohol (ten to thirty minutes). If now the 

 filaments are mounted in water and subjected 

 to a slight rolling pressure under a cover 

 glass the cells will separate and fall over, 

 giving excellent end views. Ten pages are 

 given to a comparison of the conclusions 

 reached by different investigators, notably 

 Schmitz (1879), Kohl (1903), Phillips (1904)_ 

 and Olive (1904), and this is followed by a 

 discussion of cell contents, including the 

 nucleus (for these plants have a nucleus of a 

 simple kind), the granules and the cytoplasm. 



Some studies were made of the products of 

 assimilation, resulting in finding glycogen, 

 but not starch. Finally he finds much simi- 

 larity between the Cyanophyceae and certain 

 bacteria. A helpful bibliography, and six 

 beautiful plates, mostly colored, close this im- 

 portant contribution. 



SHORT notes 



With the January number the Plcmt World 

 enters upon the tenth year of its existence. 

 The business management is changed, the 

 place of publication being Denver, Colorado, 

 and there have been some changes in the 

 editorial management and policy. On the 

 title-page the subtitle has been changed to 

 read ' A Magazine of General Botany ' instead 

 of 'Popular Botany.' The purpose of the 

 journal remains unchanged, namely to present 

 botany in a non-technical form, for general 

 readers, students and teachers. Professor 

 Lloyd, now of Tucson, Arizona, continues as 

 managing editor, and Miss Bracket, assistant 

 editor. The other members of the editorial 

 staff are members of the staff of the Desert 

 Botanical Laboratory, and the Arizona Ex- 

 periment Station. It is likely, therefore, to 

 have a distinctly western flavor, and may thus 

 appeal to a much larger constituency. There 

 is a place for a journal of this kind which will 

 be helpful to the beginner and the young 

 teacher, and which at the same time will be 

 full of information as to botanical matters. 

 It must be suggestive and helpful in regard to 

 the many details in the work of student and 

 teacher, yet in order to be a mere day-by-day 

 guide, it must do more for its readers, by 

 leading them into broader and higher fields 

 of thought and activity. 



The twenty-fifth Heft of Engler's 'Pflan- 

 zenreich ' is devoted to a monograph by Fr. 

 Buchenan, of the Family Juncaceae, and 

 makes a volume of nearly three hundred 

 pages. The first thirty pages are given to an 

 introduction in which structure is especially 

 emphasized, with paragraphs on geographical 

 distribution, relationship, uses, etc. Eight 

 genera are recognized, viz. : (1) Dishchia (3 

 South American species), (2) Patosia (1 

 Chilian species), (3) OxycMoe (2 South 



