72 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. No. 341, 



course falls 600 feet in 43 miles. The Feshie 

 makes a fan across the flat middle section of 

 the Spey valley. It is assumed that the Spey 

 once had a normal slope, and it is suggested 

 that a relatively recent uplift in its lower third 

 flattened the middle course and steepened the 

 lower course. Explanation is thus found for 

 the action of the stream in aggrading its middle 

 portion with drift and in cutting down its lower 

 portion in bed rock ; but no confirmation for 

 the suggestion of recent uplift is looked for in 

 the neighboring valleys ; the success of the 

 suggestion in explaining what it was invented 

 to explain is taken as its verification, without 

 looking for unexpected consequences. 



THE RIES. 



.The divide between the headwaters of the 

 Main and Neckar on the northwest and the 

 Danube on the southeast is in general deter- 

 mined by the crest of a rather pronounced 

 cuesta of Jurassic limestone, part of which is 

 known as the Swabian Alp. The escarpment 

 of the cuesta, facing northwest, is usually well 

 defined ; the back slope, towards the Danube, 

 is on the whole remarkably simple and system- 

 atic ; but near the middle of its curved length 

 there is a curious, roughly hexagonal depres- 

 sion, called the Eies, about 18 k. in diameter, 

 rather flat floored and well enclosed by the 

 hilly borders of the uplands, with Nordlingen 

 as its chief town. This highly abnormal fea- 

 ture has been likened to a gigantic maare, or 

 pit-crater ; but although volcanic rocks are con- 

 fusedly mixed with many others — decomposed 

 granite, schists, mesozoic, tertiary and quater- 

 nary — in the floor of the depression, a detailed 

 study by Gruber (' Das Ries, eiue geographisch- 

 volkswirthschaftliche Studie,' Forsch deut. 

 Landes u. Volkskunde, XII., 1899, 193-291, 

 map, 12 figs.), ascribe the basins to dislocations, 

 similar to those by which various other depres- 

 sions have been produced in central Germany. 

 It is not clearly explained, however, in just 

 what shares dislocation and denudation are re- 

 sponsible for the basin ; no definite statement is 

 made as to the form that the surface had when 

 dislocation took place, as to the form that dis- 

 location produced, or as to the work of denuda- 

 tion on the dislocated form. It is, therefore. 



diflScult to form a clear mental picture of the 

 theoretical forms by which the observed forms 

 are to be explained. In the second part of the 

 essay, the people, settlements, occupations and 

 products of the Ries are described. 



W. M. Davis. 



BOTANICAL NOTES. 

 ' SAVE YOUR PUFF-BALLS. ' 



Under this title Mr. C. G. Lloyd, the well- 

 known student of the higher fungi, has issued 

 a circular asking botanists and others to save 

 puff'-balls of all kinds (excepting the large ones) 

 for him. He intends to publish ' in the near 

 future a detailed description of all the Gastero- 

 mycetes ' and solicits specimens from every one 

 who can help him. Due credit is promised for 

 all specimens sent to him for this purpose. The 

 monograph is to be profusely illustrated with 

 photo reproductions of typical specimens of the 

 species and also with micro-photographic en- 

 largements of the spores and capillitium by Dr. 

 Edward Thompson, an expert in this line of 

 work. 



In his directions to collectors Mr. Lloyd says : 

 "For the purpose of study puff-balls must be 

 ripe, that is, they must be full of dry dust. 

 When young most kinds are white and when 

 you cut them they appear like ' cottage cheese.' 

 They are mostly good to eat in this condition, 

 but not to study. The best time to gather them 

 is just when they are getting ripe, just when 

 the white has become moist and discolored and 

 the spines are just drying up and beginning to 

 flake off"." * * * "Simply pick them up, 

 handle them carefully so as not to mash them, 

 and if they are just ripening and are moist, 

 spread them out on the floor in a garret or 

 whei'e they will be out of the way and let them 

 dry. Then pack them loosely in a little wooden 

 box ; don't squeeze or bruise them." "If your 

 boxes are not full, pack in loosely a little cot- 

 ton or tissue paper (cotton is better) to fill out. 

 Do not wrap in paper or put in paper bags. ' ' 

 Send the boxes, securely wrapped, by mail or 

 express, to Mr. Lloyd at Court and Plum 

 streets, Cincinnati, Ohio. 



A NEW WORK ON TREES AND SHRUBS. 



The announcement is made by Messrs. 

 Houghton, Mifflin &Co., of Boston, Mass., that 



