860 



SCIENCE. 



[N.S. Vol. XVII. No. 439. 



The extensive plantings made by the Southern 

 Pacific Eailroad in the San Joaquin Valley- 

 region over twenty years ago and the lessons 

 indicated thereby are not mentioned. Gen- 

 eral Stratton's forty-five acres in E. gloiuliis 

 and E. viminalis planted in 1869 in Alameda 

 County, probably the first artificial forest vrest 

 of the Eocky Mountains, seems to have es- 

 caped notice. The late B. B. Bedding, for 

 many years land agent of the Central Pacific 

 Eailroad, and Professor E. W. Hilgard, of 

 the University of California, and others have 

 written and preached much on the general 

 text, 



A useful addition to Professor McClatchie's 

 memoir and one in harmony with its general 

 scope would be a climatic map similar to that 

 published some years ago by the Southern 

 Pacific Eailroad Co. In this the thermal 

 zones of the state are exhibited; these zones 

 are governed by topographic features and can 

 not be understood by reference to latitude. 

 One word more as to the propagation of the 

 eucalypts from seed. Judging by my own 

 experience from imported seed, E. amygdalina 

 and E. rohiisia germinated as readily as radish 

 or turnip seed, when sown in a cold frame. 

 Eob't E. C. Stearns. 



Los Angeles, 



February 21, 1903. 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 



The April number of the Botanical Gazette 

 contains two cytological papers. The first is 

 the beginning of an article on 'Oogenesis in 

 Saprolegnia,' by Professor Bradley M. Davis, 

 in which he presents newly observed facts 

 regarding the formation of the egg and the 

 behavior of the coenocentrum. The conclud- 

 ing part of the paper will be devoted to theo- 

 retical considerations. The second is by Pro- 

 fessor David M. Mottier, on the ' Behavior of 

 the Chromosomes in the Spore Mother-cells 

 of Higher Plants and the Homology of the 

 Pollen and the Embryo-sac Mother-cells.' 

 He describes mitoses in the microspore and 

 megaspore mother-cell of typical angiosperms, 

 and homologizes these processes. The occur- 

 rence of a single megaspore is regarded as a 

 derived condition, four being the primitive 



number. In continuing his notes on North- 

 American grasses, Mr. A. S. Hitchcock de- 

 scribes as a new species WillJcommia texana. 

 In view of the fact that the concluding paper 

 in Professor F. O. Bower's important series 

 on the ' Morphology of Spore-producing Mem- 

 bers ' is not likely to be published in full for 

 some months, the editors have published in 

 advance an abstract of the memoir, which 

 contains a general discussion of the results 

 reached in the four previous papers of the 

 series, and of their bearing on a theory of 

 sterilization in the sporophyte. MacDougal's 

 • memoir on the ' Influence of Light and Dark- 

 ness upon Growth and Development of Plants' 

 and Graebner's volume on the ' Heaths of 

 Northern Germany,' are reviewed, together 

 with other current literature. Among ' Notes 

 for Students' Mr. J. Arthur Harris contrib- 

 utes a review of recent teratological litera- 

 ture. 



The May number of the Biological Bulletin 

 of the Marine Biological Laboratory contains 

 the following articles : 



Helen Dean King : ' The Formation of the 

 Notoehord in the Amphibia.' 



Leo Loeb : ' On the Coagulation of the Blood 

 of some Arthropods and on the Influence of Pres- 

 sure and Traction on the Protoplasm of the Blood 

 Cells of Arthropods.' 



S. J. Holmes : ' Phototaxis in Volvox.' 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



THE SAN FRANCISCO SECTION OF THE AMERICAN 

 MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY. 



The third regular meeting of the San 

 Francisco section of the American Mathe- 

 matical Society was held at Stanford Univer- 

 sity on April 25, 1903. Fifteen members of 

 the society were present. Professor Haskell 

 was elected to succeed Professor Wilczynski 

 on the program committee. The following 

 papers were read during the two sessions of 

 the section: 



Peopessoe E. J. Wilczynski : ' Invariants of 

 systems of linear partial differential equations, 

 and the theory of congruences.' 



De. D. N. Lehmee: 'Preliminary report on a 

 table of smallest divisors.' 



