143 



rings are a very prominent feature on all the trees that I have 

 noticed and certainly deserve to be recorded. 



l^lnwAKi) W. Berry. 

 Passaic, Nkvv Jersey. 



NEWS ITEMS 



Dr. and Mrs. N. L. Britton are in the Bahamas. They sailed 

 from New York August 19, and e.xpect to return some time 

 before the end of the present month. 



Dr. W. A. Murrill, who has been spending the summer in 

 Virginia, has returned and taken up iiis work as assistant cura- 

 tor, in charge of the mycological department, at the New York 

 Botanical Garden. 



Dr. Otto Kuntze, of San Remo, Italy, widely known on 

 account of his studies of problems in botanical nomenclature, has 

 been in the United States recently on his return from a trip 

 around the world. He sailed from New York on Saturday, 

 September 10. 



Among the distinguished visitors upon whom the degree of 

 doctor of science was conferred by Cambridge Universit)', on the 

 occasion of the recent meeting of the British Association for the 

 Advancement of Science, were Adolf Engler, professor of botany 

 in the University of Berlin, and Sir William Turner Thisleton-Dyer, 

 F.R.S., director of the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew. 



Dr. N. L. Britton and Dr. J. N. Rose have taken up the study 

 of the Cactaceae. They propose to gather large li\ing collec- 

 tions both at New York and Washington, much as they have 

 done with the Crassulaceae, and to continue their studies for a 

 series of years, basing descriptions largely on living plants. 

 Extensive field-work will be done, especially in ]\Ie.\ico, and the 

 earnest cooperation of botanists travelling in the southwest is 

 solicited. The National Museum will gladly furnish means for 

 sending material to Washington. 



According to the annual summary of doctorates conferred by 

 American universities, published in Scny/ct', the number this \-ear 

 in botany is seventeen, while during the past six years the smallest 



