138 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XXI. No. 527 



pens," by W. P. Wilson; "A Nascent Variety of Brunella vul 

 qaris" by J. T. Rothrock; and "Preliminary Observations on the 

 Movements of the Leaves of Melilotus alba L. and Other Plants," 

 bv W P. Wilson. Numerous new points are brought out by the 

 studies of Dr. McFarlane on Dionoea. Among others he notes 

 that two touches of the sensitive hairs are usually necessary to 

 cause closure of the leaf. What he calls " memory power of the 

 nrotoplasm," that is, response to a second stimulus when the first 

 had no appreciable effect, he finds is sharply retained for from 30 

 to 45 seconds; and in from 55 to 60 seconds the effect of the first 

 stimulus is lost. He also found that the hairs were not alone 

 sensitive, although they were most so. But both outer and inner 

 leaf surfaces show a marked degree of sensitivity. It was ob- 

 served, likewise, that, although falling water, like rain, had little 

 or no effect, immersion in water caused closure of the leaves as 

 soon as the water touched the hair. Although three is the normal 

 number of hairs on each blade of the leaf, our author has seen 

 seven on one and six on the other half of a leaf; and he says 

 leaves are frequently observed with from 8 to 13 hairs. " Such 

 facts give countenance to the view that the sensitive hairs were 

 once more numerous and diffuse in distribution, a condition still 

 retained by Drosera." The hairs are jointed just above the base, 

 and this seems to be the special irritable centre. 



The epidermal cells of the leaves are stated to be admirable 

 objects for observing the continuity of protoplasm. After proper 

 treatment, the method being described, there are seen "along 

 each side 18 lo 30 protoplasmic bridges, which are slightly con- 

 stricted on either side of the cellulose wall, and form a central 

 swelling at the passage through the pore aperture. The transverse 

 or oblique walls are traversed by 5 to 8 similar processes, so that 

 the protoplasm of each epidermal cell is linked to that of neigh- 

 bor cells by 50 to 75 fine connecting threads, and these again col- 

 lectively are united with the cylinder of sensitive cells in the 

 irritable hair." Various other subjects are considered, but they 

 cannot be referred to here. 



In the Bulletin of the Denison University, above mentioned, 



we have a catalogue of 945 species of plants occurring in Licking 

 County, Ohio. Mr. H. L. Jones, the author, gives a list of the 

 herbaria consulted, a short sketch of the county geology, and 

 other facts. A mong them are the times of flowering of the plants, 

 and we note that in November 44 species bloom, in December 1 1 , 

 in January 14, in February 9, in March 17, and up to July 530. 

 Thus no month of the year is without some flowers. 



Joseph F. James 



Washington, March 1. 



An Introductory Manual for Sugar Orowers. By Francis Watts, 

 F.C.S., F.I.C. London and New York, Longmans, Green & 

 Co. 151 p. 111. 8°. 



In the rapid extension of agricultural chemistry and scientific 

 agriculture, a vast amount of tabular matter has been piepared, 

 thousands of analyses have been made, and yet the results are 

 neither satisfactory nor proportional to the work done. Professor 

 Whitney has recently placed the position very clearly in saying, 

 " There has been no satisfactory interpretation as yet of much of 

 the work which has been done on the chemical composition of 

 soils and plants, and the results of plat experiments have in most 

 cases been very conflicting and uncertain." In this country the 

 government experiment stations are issuing bulletin after bulletin 

 of valuable and interesting reading; but even they, with all their 

 superior advantages, have, as yet, fallen far short of their pur- 

 pose. One reason for this is in the pre-eminence given to analysis 

 and in the slighting of "condition," which latter feature forms 

 a prominent part in the opening chapters of "An Introductory 

 Manual for Sugar Growers," by Mr. Francis Watts, government 

 chemist at Antigua, W. I. The first half of this interesting little 

 book may be perused with profit by agriculturists the world over, 

 presenting as it does a remarkably clear and intelligible disserta- 

 tion on the elements of agricultural chemistry, treating first of 

 soils, then of plant life and plant food, and finally of manures 

 and fertilizers. The remainder of the work is devoted exclusively 

 to the sugar industry, beginning with the planting and cutting of 



CALENDAR OF SOCIETIES. 

 Anthropological Society, Washington. 

 Mar. 7. — George H. Boehmer, Pre-His- 

 toric Naval Architecture of Northern Eu- 

 rope; George R. Stetson, Mental Atrophy in 

 the Working Classes. 



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