858 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. 700 



that the Eanal is the most primitive of the 

 angiospermous types. The paper is well worth 

 reading at this time when botanists are look- 

 ing with increasing favor upon the strobilar 

 theory in their speculations as to the origin 

 of the angiospermous flower and, as a result, 

 the origin of the group of Atigiospermae. 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



As an echo of the very general celebration 

 of the bicentenary of Linne, the altogether 

 admirable biographical sketch entitled " Carl 

 von Linne " by Professor Dr. N. Wille is 

 worthy of mention. Originally published in 

 " Samtiden " for 1907, it is now republished 

 as an eleven-page pamphlet in the Noi-wegian 

 language, and is accompanied by a good por- 

 trait of Linne as he appeared about the time 

 when he issued his greatest wotrks, the 

 " Species Plantarum " and the " Genera Plan- 

 tarum." 



A pamphlet entitled " Memorials of Lucien 

 Marcus Underwood " is a sad reminder of the 

 loss which botanical science sustained by the 

 death of the distinguished botanist. The first 

 paper is a biographical sketch by Dr. 0. C. 

 Curtis. From it we learn that he was born 

 October 26, 1853, on a farm in central New 

 York, a region already famous as the birth- 

 place, nearly half a century earlier, of Dr. Asa 

 Gray. Here he spent his boyhood working 

 on the farm, attending first the country dis- 

 trict school, and later a near-by academy (sem- 

 inary), still later he went to college (Syracuse 

 University), graduating in 1877. Then came 

 a period of teaching various subjects in vari- 

 ous places, including the Morrisville Union 

 School, ■ Cazenovia Seminary, Hedding Col- 

 lege (m.), Wesleyan University (111.), Syra- 

 cuse University, DuPauw University, Poly- 

 technic Institute (Ala.) and Columbia Uni- 

 versity (1896). Eleven years of fruitful work 

 in the university and the New York Botanical 

 Garden, and then came the end on November 

 16, 1907. The second paper is an appreciative 

 tribute by Dr. M. A. Howe, and this is fol- 

 lowed by a list of publications including 212 

 titles. On examination one finds that more 

 than half of these titles deal with Hepaticae 



and Pteridophyta. His fii-st paper appeared 

 in 1878 and the last in 1907. The pamphlet 

 closes with a collection of the resolutions 

 passed by various institutions and societies. 



A considerable portion of the April number 

 of the Journal of Mycology is given to the 

 life and work of William Ashbrook Keller- 

 man, its founder and editor. He was born 

 in Ashville, Ohio, May 1, 1850, received his 

 collegiate education in Cornell University 

 (graduating in 1874) and the University of 

 Zurich (Ph.D., 1881). For five years he was 

 a teacher in a state normal school (Wisconsin), 

 then professor of botany in the Agricultural 

 College of Kansas, from which he transferred 

 to the Ohio State University in 1891. Four 

 years ago he organized a scientific expedition 

 to Guatemala, and followed it with a second, 

 third and fourth. In the last, when near the 

 end of the trip, he was stricken with a disease 

 which caused his death March 8, 1908. The 

 list of his publications includes upwards of 

 232 titles. His first paper, on the development 

 of the flowers of Gunnera cMlensis (inaugural 

 dissertation), appeared in 1881, and the last 

 installment of his well-known and veiy useful 

 " Index to North American Mycology " was 

 issued in the current number of the Journal 

 of Mycology, on April 15, 1908. In 1885, 

 with J. B. Ellis and B. M. Everhart, he began 

 the publication of the Journal of Mycology, 

 continuing it until its transfer to the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, four years 

 later, and resuming its publication again in 



1902 and continuing it until his death. In 



1903 he began the publication of a most help- 

 ful leaflet, the Mycological Bulletin, designed 

 to help teachers and pupils in the public 

 schools to know something about fungi. In 

 the words of his sympathetic biographer, " the 

 loss of such a man, upright in character, pos- 

 sessed of lofty ideals, and an enthusiasm which 

 was an inspiration to all with whom he came 

 in contact, will be felt not only by his students, 

 but by botanists the world over." 



Professor Dr. Pammel has rendered a dis- 

 tinct service to botanists in the preparation 

 of a sketch of the life and work of Dr. Edwin 

 James, and its publication in the Annals of 

 Iowa (Vol. VII.). Edwin James was born 



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