March 13, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



433 



that " Southern Michigan forms the western 

 extension of what is perhaps the richest Cra- 

 taegiLS region in the world." And further, 

 " Judging from the material which I have 

 seen from other parts of the lower peninsula 

 and which is too incomplete for critical study, 

 it seems probable that there are still a large 

 number of unnamed species." With the pros- 

 pect of seventy-five to eighty or more species 

 of hawthorns in southern Michigan alone, the 

 botanists of that state may confidently be 

 expected to join the ranks of those who would 

 restore the idea of species to its old sig- 

 nificance. 



Eventually most of these " species " will 

 probably be sorted and arranged as interesting 

 forms and varieties. As such they will be 

 useful to the critical collector and field bot- 

 anist. Possibly they may serve as examples 

 of the " elementary species " of some recent 

 writers, or of the " incipient " or " nascent " 

 species of others. They are not the species 

 of Gray, Torrey, Bentham, DeCandolle, or 

 Linne. 



CALIFORNIA COMPOSITES 



In marked contrast to the preceding paper 

 is that of Mr. H. M. Hall, under the title of 

 " Oompositae of Southern California," in the 

 University of California Publications (Vol. 3, 

 No. 1, Dec. 28, 1907). The author, although 

 dealing with about five hundred species, finds 

 few new ones. The reason for this is suggest- 

 ed by the author's remark in the introductory 

 chapter, where he says, " It should be noted 

 that the number of species could be greatly 

 augmented by recognizing numerous forms 

 which have been described and given specific 

 names, but which have been reduced to syn- 

 onymy in this paper." A little later he gives 

 his opinion " that the exaltation of trivial 

 forms, distinguished only by one or two vari- 

 able characters, to the rank of species is 

 conducive neither to clearness nor to scientific 

 accuracy." What he says further is so well 

 said that it may be quoted with profit at this 

 time when we are thinking seriously of the 

 question of the nature and limits of species. 

 " A rational system of classification should 

 bring out the natural relationship between the 

 various forms; should, in other words, repre- 



sent the cleavage of the larger groups into 

 their component parts as it has taken place 

 in nature. Much of our recent work, how- 

 ever, has unfortunately consisted of a mere 

 cutting across the grain, the result being a 

 mass of chips — the so-called species — each 

 being a purely artificial product and bearing 

 no evident relationship to the others. This 

 is commonly the result of hasty work where 

 the perpetrator has been too busy to work 

 out natural afiinities through a comparison 

 of intergrading forms accompanied by field 

 study." 



The Compositae of southern California as 

 understood by the author are distributed by 

 tribes as follows: Eupatorieae, 9 species; 

 Astereae, 113; Inuleae, 25; Amlrosieae, 18; 

 Heliantheae, 34; Madieae, 29; Helenieae, 86; 

 Anthemidieae, 19; Senecioneae, 25; Cynareae, 

 17; Mutisieae, 2; Cichorieae, 68. These plants 

 are distributed over six " life-zones," viz., 

 Alpine, Hudsonian, Canadian, Transition, 

 Upper Sonoran and Lower Sonoran, and the 

 author discusses briefly the distribution of 

 particular species in these zones. In passing 

 we may notice that it is in the Transition 

 zone that are found the extensive forests of 

 yellow pine (Pinus ponderosa) and white fir 

 (Ahies concolor), while the Upper Sonoran 

 zone " is essentially co-limital with the chap- 

 arrel belt." In looking over the list we ob- 

 serve that there are no species of either Eupa- 

 torium or Lacinaria {Liatris), and that there 

 are of SoKdago 4 species; Asier, 17; Erigeron, 

 14; Ambrosia, 2; Franseria, 8; Xanthium, 2; 

 Helianthus, 6; Senecio, 11; Carduus, 6. 



Charles E. Bessey 

 The University or Nebraska 



TEE AMERICAN NATURE-STUDY SOCIETY 

 The American Nature-Study Society was 

 organized at Chicago on January 2, 1908. Its 

 purposes, as stated in the adopted constitu- 

 tion, are: (1) To promote critical investiga- 

 tion of all phases of nature-study (as dis- 

 tinguished from technical science) in schools, 

 especially all studies of nature in elementary 

 schools; and (2) to work for the establish- 

 ment in schools of such nature-study as has 



