January 2, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



27 



sori and indusia have perhaps been empha- 

 sized too much in classification; in some 

 species the indusium may be developed or 

 may be wanting on the same plant. There 

 is now a tendency to return to the recogni- 

 tion of the fibro-vascular system as an ele- 

 ment in classifying ferns. Mainly free- 

 veined ferns occur in Devonian and Carbon- 

 iferous remains. Anastomosing veins seem to 

 have developed later; and even now they form 

 the predominant feature in but two of the 

 ferns of our northern states, Onoclea sensibilis 

 and Woodwardia areolata. The pinnate and 

 flabellate types of venation are very distinct, 

 but are connected in appearance by a modi- 

 ficjition of the last type with successive alter- 

 nation of its dichotomy forming a prolonged 

 axis. The ferns known as gold and silver 

 ferns were included in 1811 in the genus 

 Gymnogramme. Some twenty genera have 

 since been segregated from it, some of them 

 on insufficient grounds. Many garden hy- 

 brids and horticultural varieties have been 

 developed. With the exception of a species 

 in Madagascar, the group is confined to the 

 tropics of America, where the species known 

 as the silver fern is perhaps the most common 

 fern known. The goldenback fern of Cali- 

 fornia is perhaps most familiar to ordinary 

 knowledge; its range is from Alaska to 

 Lower California, but not eastward of the 

 Sierras. In life it is of a bright golden 

 yellow beneath (often replaced by silvery 

 powder), a brilliant green above; in the dry 

 season it coils up involutely, exposing only 

 the under surface, which is covered by its 

 peculiar golden waxy powder. 



This and other ferns of the arid region 

 prevent too great transpiration of water by 

 developing waxy or resinous powders, or by 

 layers of wool or of scales. A Mexican spe- 

 cies, Noiholcena aurantiaca, was exhibited, 

 which combines two protections, powder and 

 scales. The silver fern of our arid Southwest 

 finally becomes almost chalky beneath; it be- 

 comes coiled almost into a ball in the dry 

 season. 



Discussion followed upon the true interpre- 

 tation of the function of the waxy powder. 

 Dr. C. C. Curtis deemed it to accomplish 



two purposes, that of plugging stomata and 

 that of reflecting heat. Dr. Eusby recalled 

 the suggestion made by Mr. Chas. F. Cox 

 some years ago, to the effect that plant hairs 

 carry on metabolism and aid nutrition. 



Dr. Eusby also described the appearance 

 and habitats of several species which he had 

 been familiar with in Bolivia and in our own 

 Southwest; in the Eockies, where Notholwna 

 and Cheilanthes grow together from the same 

 crevices of rock, they respond to rain with 

 remarkable quickness. In the dry season 

 when everything else is seemingly dead, if a 

 rain should occur, their coiled fronds quickly 

 become bright green and well expanded, 

 though curled again into little balls in a few 

 days if dry weather follows. 



Edwaed S. Buegess, 



NORTH CAROLINA SECTION OF THE AMERICAN 

 CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 



The North Carolina Section held its fall 

 meeting in the Office of State Chemist, Agri- 

 cultural Building, Ealeigh, N. C, on Satur- 

 day, November 22, 1902, with presiding officer 

 Charles E. Brewer in the chair. Twenty 

 members and visitors were in attendance. 

 Hereafter all papers presented at the meet- 

 ings will be required to be in abstract. Drs. 

 A. S. Wheeler and G. S. Traps were elected 

 reviewers for the Section for the ensuing year. 

 Their duties will be for each to prepare and 

 present at some meeting during the year a 

 paper giving briefly the advances recently 

 made in some branch of chemistry. This 

 departure promises to be a valuable addition 

 to the programs. The following papers were 

 presented and discussed : 



' Some New Double Sulphates of Lanthanum, 

 and on the Existence of Lanthanum Alums,' 

 by Charles Baskerville and E. G. Moss. 



' Lanthanates,' by Chas. Baskerville and G. 

 F. Catlett. 



The resemblance of lanthanum to aluminum 

 was taken advantage of and the preparation 

 of such bodies as the lanthanates and meta- 

 lanthanates hitherto not reported, described. 

 The new substances are sodium lanthanate 

 (NaLaOJ and meta-lanthanates of sodium. 



