324 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XX. No 514 



genus of tall, rigid, umbelliferous plants, peculiar to the islands, 

 with the exception of a rare and feeble species which occurs on 

 the mountains of eastern Australia. The leaves and bracts of two 

 of the speries, in all their subdivisions, end in long, rigid spines, 

 i-endering them most formid-ibli' plants. The only suggested ex- 

 planation for the occurrence of such strongly-armed spe?ies is 

 that they were thus protected against the moas. This may or 

 may not be true. It may be said in tavor of the hypothesis that 

 the moas were extraordinarili abundnut in former times and 

 they were vegetable feeders, the conient* of their crops, consist- 

 ing of rounded pebbles and comminuted vegetable fibres, being 

 commonly found It is also the case that since the introduction 

 of pigs into the colony, these plants have been immensely reduced 

 in numbers. The pigs root up the ground at some little distance 

 from the plant, anl so get at it from below. 



But, leaving this exceptional ca-e we find the general state- 

 ment true with which this note is prefaced. A few examples 

 may be given. The genus Accena consists of small rosaceous herbs 

 which have undergone considerable retrogressive development. 

 The name refers to the spines formed ot the four produced and 

 hardened persistent calyx-.'obes which project above the fruit. Of 

 the Ave species found in New Zealand, two have a wide distribu- 

 tion outside the islands; A. sanguisorboe Ta.ngmg westwards across 

 Tasmania and Australia, and reacpearing in Tristan d'Acunha; 

 while A. adscendens is a more Antarctic type, occurring In the 

 Macquarrie Islands, Tierra del Fuego, and the Falkland Islands. 

 In both these species the calyx spine- are tipped with small barbed 

 hairs, by means of which the truit adheres to any passing animal 

 with great persistence. In the other species of the genus which 

 are peculiar to New Zealand, the spines have almost or altogether 

 lost the barbs and the fruit is not distributed widely. The change 

 is not, however, complete in all ; thus in A. microphyUa the spines 

 are strongly developed and occasionally have reversed hairs on 

 their summit. In A Buchanani the spines are feeble and rarely 

 have a few apical hairs, but sometimes they are not developed. 

 Lastly, in A. inermis the cal\x merely has its angles thickened in 

 fruit, and there are no spines 



The only other New Zealand plants in which the fruit is carried 

 by means of barbs whicli could catch on to passing animals be- 

 long to the genus Uncinia a group of sedges which haie the 

 utiicle furnished with a long barbed bristle or seta. This forms 

 a most etBcient origan for hooking hairs, etc , and it renders the 

 fruit a great pest to dogs. The New Zealand species are, as 

 Hooker says, "difficult of discrimination." and some are so closely 

 allied to Tasmanian or to South American forms as to be almost 

 indistinguishable The genus is widely spread in the Southern 

 Hemisphere, and also occurs as far north as the mountains of 

 Abyssinia. It is clear that the barbed bristle is a characier de- 

 veloped outside of these islands and is evidently of great antiquity. 

 In some of the more slender emlemio forms it is not very strongly 

 developed, but I know of no species which has lost it. 



Spiny and prickly plants are ver\ rare, and, with the exception 

 of the Aciphyllas already mentioned, are all Australian. Discaria 

 toumatou is probably the same as ihe Australian D. austrahs; in 

 this plant the leaves are small, and the branches are developed 

 into strong spines which protect it against grazing animals. 

 Eryngium vesioulosum is a low-growing umbelliferous plant with 

 very prickly leaves and bracts, but it is a common Australian and 

 Tasmanian species. The same remark applies to Ruhus austrahs, 

 but in this case the formidable, recurved prickles, which have 

 earned the plant the name of " bush lawyer," are chiefly of ser- 

 vice as climbing organs. There is, indeed, no endemic spiny 

 plant in New Zealand (except Aciphylla). 



The tendency to lose the protective character is shown in a most 

 instructive manner in a few instances. thus there are in these 

 islands two species of the myitaceous genus Leptospemium . L. 

 seoparium, which is also common in Tasmania, has rigid, pungent 

 leaves, which only an animal with a hard palate could aitack 

 with impunity. On the other hand, L. ericoides, which is con- 

 Sned to the islands, has quite lost the pungent tip to its leaves, 

 a;id the foliage and branches are much softer and less rigid. 



An exception to the rule here exemplified is afforded by the 

 11 '.;tles, of which one endemic species, Ortica ferox, is about as 



diabolical a species as can be met with. Its long, stinging hairs 

 inflict a painful wound. It is difficult to say what they serve to 

 protect the plant from. As if to show that perfection of protec- 

 tive development in one direction does not always serve in an- 

 other, it is a fact worth noting that this species is so very much 

 attacked by leaf-eating insects that it is often a matter of difficulty 

 to get herbarium specimens quite perfect. 



THE PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY AT YALE. 



For several years Professor Ladd has been lecturing on physio- 

 logical psychology, using charts, models, microscope sliies, etc., 

 for illustration. His earnest desire to have a laboratory for this 

 science finally met its fulfilment last spring. The second, third, 

 and attic floors of a building were given for that purpose, and 

 $1,500 were appropriated for equipping the apartments and for 

 apparatus. Dr. E. W. Scripture, a pupil of Wundt in Leipzig, 

 was called from Clark University to take charge. Orders for 

 apparatus were sent oil at once, and the preparation of the rooms 

 went on all summer, so that the work of instruction and research 

 began without a hitch on the first day of the term. 



The laboratory consists of fifteen rooms, among which are the 

 lecture room, seminary room, library, chemical, and battery 

 rooms, apparatus room, isolated room, time room, general- 

 research room, and workshop. The workshop contains a screw- 

 cutting lathe and all tools that can be desired for the repair and 

 manufacture of apparatus. A regular mechanic is at work here 

 part of the time. This workshop, which is the most com- 

 plete one ever put into a psychological laboratory, is regarded as 

 the foundation of research and demonstration work, The plan 

 followed in investing the funds has been to spend as little as pos- 

 sible for mere demonstration apparatus and to reserve nearly all 

 for research work; nevertheless it is of supreme importance to 

 have the lectures on psychology consist almost entirely of demon- 

 strations. This difficulty has been completely solved by the 

 workshop where the apparatus for demonstration is put together 

 or manufactured with sufficient care for the purpose. 



Three rooms, including the isolated room, are given over en- 

 tirely to research. This isolated room is a small room built inside 

 of another room ; four springs of rubber and felt are the only 

 points in which it comes in contact with the outer walls. The 

 space between the walls is filled with sawdust as in an ice-box. 

 The room is thus proof against sound and light, and affords an 

 opportunity of making more accurate experiments on the mental 

 condition than yet attempted. 



A particularly new feature is the electrical communication be- 

 tween the rooms. It is nearly always necessary to separate the 

 experimenter from the one experimented on ; in order to avoid the 

 large number of electrical wires necessary to connect the rooms 

 separately a switchboard has been arranged similar to a telephone 

 switchboard, to which sets of wires run from each room. But 

 this one with fifty-six wires has been put in with the aid of a 

 carpenter at about one-tenth the cost of a telephone-board. 



The following courses are given in the laboratory by Dr Scrip- 

 ture: 1. A regular lecture course in experimental and physiologi- 

 cal psychology of one hour per week, for seniors and graduates; 

 the seniors alone recite on another day. 2. A laboratory course 

 in experimental psychology for graduates, conducted on the semi- 

 nary method by the men themselves. The object is not only to 

 give a thorough knowledge of the psychological work in the 

 laboratory, but to train the men in handling apparatus and in 

 conducting lectures, thus providing a supply ot instructors ready 

 to take positions. This course has seventeen members, being 

 exceeded in the graduate department only by Professor Ladd's 

 philosophical courses. 3. Research work. It is the constant en- 

 deavor to awaken in the students the spirit of original investiga- 

 tion, this being what America most lacks in its educational life. 

 Men are also encouraged on the principle that one learns most by 

 doing. Last, not least, the fact is recognized that the amount of 

 research done determines the standing of the laboratory in the 

 scientific world . Already six original investigations of the highest 

 class are under way ; they include one on attention, in which 



