35 



The following were elected to iiiciiiljcrship : Miss Alice A. 

 KiiDx, HariKud College, New York City ; Miss Amelia R, Good- 

 lattc, Passaic, N. J.; Miss Lenda T. Hanks, Girls' Technical High 

 School. New York City; Miss Mary F. liarrett, 19 E\m Street, 

 Bloomfield, N. J.; Mr. LcRoy Abrams, N. Y. Botanical Garden. 



The first pajjer on the program was by Professor V. K. Lloyd, 

 who spoke of the Desert Botanical Laboratory at Tucson, Ari- 

 zona. He pointed out that there were four characteristic types of 

 desert \'isiblc with great regularity from the car window westward 

 from K\ Paso, as the train passed from mesa to hill country or 

 2HCI' 7'frsa. The character-plants of these four deserts, which 

 are remarkably distinct and pure, are Yucca, Ephedra, mesquite, 

 Parkinsoiiia and Foiiquicria, in abundance. Professor Lloyd spoke 

 in some detail of the vegetation in the vicinity of Tucson, illus- 

 trating his remarks with numerous excellent photographs, in- 

 cluding several good pictures of Ccrcus gigantciis in bloom and 

 in fruit. 



It was remarked that the plants with motile leaves, such as 

 Cassia, Acacia and Parkiiisonia, all faced the sun at sunrise, but 

 did not follow its course during the day. Foiiqjiicria was de- 

 scribed in detail, attention being called to its short-lived primar}' 

 leaves and curious spines which were cited as an example of 

 direct metamorphosis, the rosettes of secondary leaves appearing 

 in the axils of the latter. The primary object of Professor Lloyd's 

 stay at the laboratory was the determination of the relation be- 

 tween stomatal action and transpiration. Numerous experiments 

 were made, the results of which are to be reported in detail 

 later. 



The second paper, by Mr. George V. Nash, was on the vegeta- 

 tion of Inagua. Mr. Nash recently spent four weeks in collect- 

 ing there. Inagua includes a large and a small island located 

 some sixty miles northeast of Cuba, and with a total area of be- 

 tween five and six hundred square miles of mosth' low land, the 

 highest point reaching only 132 feet Above the sea. 



The flora is poor, embracing some 350 or 400 species, the 

 relatively numerous cacti in the genera Opiiii/ia, Cac/us, Mclo- 

 cactits, and Piloccrcus emphasizing the desert-like conditions pre- 



