Deoembee 25, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



939 



in spite of the importance of temperature as a 

 factor in' distribution it is illogical to take it as 

 the sole criterion for the limits of distributional 

 regions, especially when the r81e of soil and at- 

 mospheric moisture is so obviously of vital im- 

 portance and is so potent in determining the 

 areas of the principal vegetational regions of the 

 globe. 



SHORT NOTES 



A TEAE or SO ago F. L. Sargent published a 

 helpful little book on applied botany, entitled 

 "Plants and Their Uses" (Holt), and now he 

 adds a helpful 80-page pamphlet of directions 

 to students (" Student's Handbook ") to ac- 

 company it, and to serve as a laboratory guide. 



Somewhat similar in design is Dr. Pool's 

 little hook, " Suggestions for Experiments in 

 Plant Physiology " (Univ. ISTebr.), consisting 

 of 100 pages. Fifteen illustrations, mostly 

 diagrammatic, supplement the test of very 

 explicit directions. 



The Nature Study Society of Eockford, 111., 

 has issued a catalogue of " The Trees of Eock- 

 ford and Vicinity," including 160 species and 

 varieties of native and cultivated trees. 

 Counting the starred names we find that 50 

 species are natives. 



E. A. GoRTNER and A. F. Blakeslee show* 

 that this very common black mold contains a 

 powerful water-soluble toxin, which is very 

 harmful when injected into different parts of 

 the body of rabbits and guinea-pigs, but appar- 

 ently not harmful when fed to the animals. 

 This paper is presented by the authors as a 

 report of progress. 



G. D. Fuller's " Evaporation and Soil 

 Moisture in Eelation to the Succession of 

 Plant Associations "^ gives some of the re- 

 sults of his studies in the Chicago region. The 

 stations included cottonwood dunes, pine dunes, 

 oak dunes, oak-hickory forests, beech-maple 

 forests and prairies. By graphs and diagrams 

 the results are made evident to the eye. 



" A Provisional List of Parasitic Fungi in 



* ' ' Observations on the Toxin of Bhizopws 

 nigricans," Am. Jour. Physiol., July, 1914. 

 sBot. 6ae., September, 1914. 



Wisconsin,"" by J. J. Davis, is a revision of 

 previous lists by Dr. Trelease and J. J. Davis, 

 and brings our knowledge of the parasites of 

 Wisconsin down to date. The list is in two 

 parts, the first being systematic as to the fungi, 

 and the second being an alphabetical list of 

 hosts. In the first there are 61 Phycomycetes ; 

 89 Ascomycetes; 418 Fungi Imperfecti; 339 

 Uredinales (-+- 19 isolated and undetermined 

 forms) ; 7 Hymenomycetes. The list includes 

 therefore, somewhat more than nine hundred 

 fungi (914-1-19). 



Other recent short papers are J. F. Cle- 

 venger's " Effect of the Soot ip. Smoke on 

 Vegetation " ;'' E. M. Harper's " Coniferous 

 Forests of Eastern North America";' J. E. 

 Weaver's " Evaporation and Plant Succession 

 in South Eastern Washington and Adjacent 

 Idaho " ;' Darsie, Elliott and Peiree's " Study 

 of the Germinating Power of Seeds " ;^" Bab- 

 cock's " Studies in Juglans," II. ;^^ H. S. Jack- 

 son's " New Pomaeeous Eust of Economic 

 Importance, Gymnosporangium ilasdale- 

 anum ";^^ Michael Levine's " Origin and 

 Development of the lamellae in Goprinus 

 micaceous ";^^ and W. A. Cannon's " Speciali- 

 zation in Vegetation and in Environment in 

 California." ^* 



Charles E. Besset 



The IJniveesitt or Nebraska 



SPECIAL ARTICLES 



HADROPTERUS PELTATUS in THE DELAWARE 



Several interesting local fishes have come 

 to my notice during the past season, the prin- 

 cipal of which was a fine large shielded darter, 

 Hadropterus peltatus. It was secured in a 

 small pool of rapid water in the course of 

 Skippack Creek, a tributary of the Perisiomen 

 Creek in Montgomery County, on October 24, 



6 Trans. Wis. Acad. Set., October, 1914. 



7 Bull. 7, Mellon Institute. 



8 Pop. Sci. Mo., October, 1914. 

 s Plant World, October, 1914. 



10 Bot. Gaz., August, 1914. 



11 Univ. Calif. Pub., October, 1914. 



12 Phytopathology, August, 1914. 



13 Am. Jour. Bot., July, 1914. 

 liPlcmt World, August, 1914. 



