March 27, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



515 



SHORT NOTES ON PAPERS 



Agnes Chase discusses two genera (Hymen- 

 achne and Sacciolepis) of Paniceae in the 

 Proceedings of the Biological Society of 

 Washington (January 23, 1908), enumerating 

 their species, which are mainly tropical. 



In his list of the " Sedges of Jamaica," 

 published in the Bulletin of the Department 

 of Agriculture [of Jamaica] Dr. ~N. L. Britton 

 enumerates 37 species of Cyperus; of Eleo- 

 charis 8 ; Stenophyllus 2 ; Fimhristylis 5 

 Abildgaardia 1; Scirpus 3; Eriophorum 1 

 Fuirena 2 ; Dichromena 3 ; Bynchospora 13 

 Cladium 1; Scleria 9; Uncinia 1; Car ex 5. 

 We record with pleasure that the author did 

 not find it necessary to make any new species ! 



With this may be noticed the late C. B. 

 Clarke's " Cyperaceae of Costa Eica " 

 (Contrib. JST. S. Nat. Herb. X., 6) in which 

 Eyllingia has 5 species credited to it ; Pycreus 

 6; Cyperus 14; Marisciis 11; Torulinium 1; 

 Eleocharis 13; Fimhristylis 6; Bulbostylis 3; 

 Scirpus 2 ; Fuirena 1 ; Dulichium 1 ; Di- 

 chromena 2; Bynchospora 16; Scleria 11; 

 Calyptrocarya 1 ; Uncinia 2 ; Carex 6 ; Hy- 

 polyirium 1; Mapania 2. Three new species 

 are described in as many genera (Cyperus, 

 Bynchospora, Carex). In spite of the rule of 

 the Vienna Congress these descriptions are in 

 English ! Why should not our National Her- 

 barium observe this salutary rule? 



E. Manson Bailey, colonial botanist, con- 

 tinues his " Contributions to the Flora of 

 Queensland " in the Queensland Agricultural 

 Journal (February, March, June, September, 

 1907) adding materially to our knowledge of 

 the flora of that far-away land. 



Professor Ramaley publishes iii the De- 

 cember (1907) University of Colorado Studies 

 a valuable paper on the " Woody Plants of 

 Boulder County." The eastern third of the 

 county extends out upon the elevated plains 

 (about 5,000 feet altitude), while the re- 

 mainder is mountainous and rises to 10,000 

 and even 14,000 feet. Upon this area of a 

 little more than 700 square miles the author 

 finds 112 species of woody plants. Nine coni- 

 fers are recorded, five cottonwoods, thirteen 

 willows, one alder, three birches, one hack- 



berry, and three maples. Neither oaks, elms 

 nor ashes occur in the county. 



Professor Doctor J. C. Arthur continues his 

 cultures of Uredineae in order to determine 

 their identity, and their alternate hosts, pub- 

 lishing his results (for 1906) in the Journal 

 of Mycology for September, 1907, and (for 

 1907) in the same journal for January, 1908. 

 By these studies he is slowly unraveling the 

 heteroecismal puzzle of the plant rusts. 



Two interesting cytological papers by Pro- 

 fessor Doctor E. W. Olive deserve mention 

 here, viz. ; " Cell and Nuclear Division in 

 Basidioholus " (in Annales Mycologici, Vol. 

 v.. No. 5, 1907), and " Cytological Studies on 

 Ceratiomyxa" (in Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci. Arts 

 and Letters, Vol. SV.). Each is accom- 

 panied with a fine plate. 



Another recent cytological paper on " Nu- 

 clear Structure and Spore formation in Micro- 

 sphaera alni" is by M. 0. Sands (in Trans. 

 Wis. Acad. Sci. Arts and Letters, Vol. XV.). 

 A good plate accompanies the text. 



H. B. Humphrey contributes an interesting 

 paper — " Studies in the Physiology and 

 Morphology of some California Hepaticae " — 

 (Proc. Wash. Acad. Sci., Vol. X.) in which 

 among other things he describes various endo- 

 phytic parasites which he has observed in- 

 certain species. 



In the July, 1907, Philippine Journal of 

 Science, where we have learned to look for 

 valuable contributions, Cakes Ames, under 

 the title " Orchidaceae Halconenses " enumer- 

 ates the orchids collected near Mount Halcon 

 on the island of Mindoro of the Philippine 

 archipelago. He catalogues 102 species (39 

 of which are new), representing 39 genera. 



J. H. White describes " Polystely in Roots 

 of Orchidaceae " in the University of Toronto ' 

 Studies (Biological Series, No. 6), showing 

 that there are two types of roots among ter- 

 restrial orchids — the monostelic and the poly- 

 stelic. The paper is illustrated by six plates. 



" The Sporangium of the Ophioglossales " 

 by L. L. Burlingame (with two plates), "Dif- 

 ferentiation of Sporocarps in Azolla " by 

 Wanda M. Pfeifl^er (with two plates), and 

 " Tvtdn Hybrids " by Professor Hugo De 



