588 



SCIENCK 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 200. 



Nebraska. Their occurrence so far north 

 seemed so unlikely that at first little atten- 

 tion was given to these rumors. At length 

 specimens of this fern were received which 

 were said to have grown wild at Cascade, in 

 the edge of the Black Hills. A personal 

 investigation was the only thing which 

 could settle the matter, for it still seemed 

 very likely that some mistake had been 

 made, and that the specimens received had 

 come from some more southern station. 

 Accordingly I visited the locality August 

 24, 1898, in company with Dr. F. E. Clem- 

 ents, and we were astonished to find this 

 fern in great abundance along the banks of 

 Cascade Creek. This stream is a couple of 

 metres wide and twenty to thirty centi- 

 metres deep, and is fed by several large 

 springs of warm water, having a temperature 

 of about 26° Cent. We very carefully ex- 

 amined the locality and satisfied ourselves 

 that this fern is indigenous and that it has 

 not been introduced by human agency- 

 Since this discovery I have seen specimens 

 of the same species collected at Cascade in 

 1892, and a fragment collected in 1890 at 

 Hot Springs, ten miles distant, along the 

 banks of Fall Creek, another warm stream. 

 Mrs. Alice M. Crary, a keen observer who 

 has lived many years in the Black Hills, 

 assures me that they grew abundantly along 

 Fall Creek at Hot Springs, ' before that 

 place was settled. ' ' All this tends to cor- 

 roborate our conclusion that these ferns 

 were not transplanted by human agency, 

 and that we have here a curious problem 

 in the distribution of a species. 



THE FUNCTION OF BLOOM. 



As is well known to botanists but not so 

 well known to the general public, the white 

 powdery coating on some leaves and fruits 

 is waxy in nature and is called ' bloom ' in 

 technical works on Botany. Its function 

 has received some attention, Mr. Darwin 

 having made it the object of some studies 



in his later years. In a recent number of 

 the Laboratory Bulletin, of Oberlin College, 

 along with papers by the lamented Professor 

 H. L. Jones, is a short one by his assistant. 

 Miss Roberta Reynolds, giving the results . 

 of a series of experiments which show that 

 when the bloom is removed from the epi- 

 dermis the transpiration of water is greatly 

 increased. Thus in case of Agave utahensis 

 the loss was about two and a-half times as 

 much from the leaf which was without 

 bloom as from that with the bloom. With. 

 Echeveria peacockii it was two and a-third 

 times as much ; with Agave verschaffelti one 

 and four-tenths; Agave americana about two 

 and a-half; an undetermined Agave, two 

 times as much; two unnamed species of 

 Cotyledon, about one and one-third. It was 

 observed, also, that on damp days the dif- 

 ference between the leaves was less than on 

 dry days; so, too, there was less difference 

 in the case of young leaves than when old 

 ones were used. 



A TINY PINE TREE. 



Last summer I climbed Green Mountain, 

 near Boulder, Colorado, and found growing 

 from a crevice in one of the rocks at the 

 summit a small tree of Pinus albicaulis 

 Engelm., about thirteen centimeters high 

 and five millimeters in diameter. It was 

 unbranched, and bore a single, terminal 

 tuft of leaves. And yet this tiny tree, when 

 carefully examined, was found to have 

 twenty-five distinct annual rings. I know 

 of no other case of natural dwarfing carried 

 to such an extreme, and, therefore, place 

 this one on record. 



Charles E. Bessey, 



The Ustivbesity of Nebraska. 



CUBBENT NOTES ON ANTSBOPOLOGY. 



BOTANICAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE ANCIENT 



AZTECS. 



Students of ancient Mexico are acquainted 

 with the work of Dr. Hernandez, who was 

 sent by Philip II. to study the plants and 



