598 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. No. 355. 



8. ' Germination of Seeds of some Com- 

 mon Cultivated Plants after prolonged Im- 

 mersion in Liquid Air ' : A. D. Selby. 



At the suggestion of Mr. J. E. Wood- 

 land, of Wooster, Ohio, who was conducting 

 experiments with liquid air during the 

 winter season of 1900-1901, the writer pre- 

 pared and supplied him with seeds of Rici- 

 nus, Lupinus luteus, maize, flax, wheat, rye, 

 cucumber, Russian sunflower, Plnus sylves- 

 tris, Mimosa pudica, Onobrychis sativus, Cheno- 

 podium album &nd Pinus parryana. At first 

 the lots of seed were immersed in the liquid 

 air directly from the room temperature and 

 kept submerged for six and twelve hours, 

 respectively. Later other lots were given 

 a gradual transition from the temperature 

 of the room to that of the liquid air and an 

 equally gradual withdrawal, being im- 

 mersed for twenty-four and forty-eight 

 hours, respectively. The seeds were then 

 germinated in the usual manner, together 

 with control lots reserved when the original 

 packages were selected. There was prac- 

 tically no essential effect of the treatment 

 noticeable upon the percentages of seeds 

 that germinated, the control, short treated, 

 and longer treated lots giving essentially the 

 same percentages of germination. This 

 paper will be printed in the Bulletin of the 

 Torrey Botanical Club. 



On Wednesday the following program 

 was given in joint session of Section G and 

 the Botanical Society of America : 



Address of the Retiring President — 

 ' Problems and Possibilities of Systematic 

 Botany' : B. L. Robinson. Read by J. M. 

 Coulter. 



' The Fundamental Phenomena of Vege- 

 tation ' : F. E. Clements. 



' Early Winter Colors of Plant Forma- 

 tions upon the Great Plains ' : C. E. 

 Bessey. 



' The Plant Formations of the Rocky 

 Mountains ' (lantern lecture) : F. E. Cle- 

 ments. 



' A Suggested Hybrid Origin of Yucca 

 gloriosa^ (lantern lecture) : Wm. Trelease. 



' The Physical Basis of Ecology ' : F. E. 

 Clements. (By title only.) 



' The Anatomy of the Embryo and Seed- 

 ling of Tsuga canadensis Carr ' (by invita- 

 tion) : W. A. MuRRiLL. Read by J. M. 

 Coulter. 



' Clues to Relationship among Heteroe- 

 cious Plant Rusts ': J. C. Arthur. Read by 

 L. M. Underwood. 



' Some of the Changes now taking place 

 in a Forest of Oak Openings ' : W. J. Beal. 



' Preliminary Notes on the Flora of West- 

 ern Iowa, especially from the Physiograph- 

 ical-Ecological Standpoint ' : L. H. Pammel. 

 (By title only.) 



' The Life History of Vittaria lineata ' : 

 E. G. Britton and A. Taylor. Read by L. 

 M. Underwood. 



' A System of Nomenclature for Phyto- 

 geography': F. E. Clements. 



' The Application of Ecology in Taxon- 

 omy ' : F. E. Clements. (By title only.) 



On Thursday the regular session of Sec- 

 tion G was resumed with the following 

 papers : 



9. ' The Location of a Tropical Research 

 Station in Porto Rico ' : L. M. Underwood. 



The agricultural station in Porto Rico 

 should, if possible, be located where it will 

 also be available as a station for general 

 botanical research. A combination of (1) 

 the greatest amount of agricultural produc- 

 tion, not alone in coffee, sugar and tobacco, 

 but also in the minor products; (2) the 

 greatest accessibility from all portions of 

 the island, and particularly those portions 

 where the . most important agricultural 

 products are cultivated under most favor- 

 able conditions ; and (3) the most interest- 

 ing botanical portion of the island, includ- 

 ing accessibility to a large original forest, 

 is met with in the eastern half of the island 

 and particularly in the region between Are- 

 cibo and Utnado. With this can be com- 



