NEWS ITEMS 



Mr. O. F. Cook, of the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture, is in Guatemala, working upon various botanical problems 

 of an economic character. 



Mr. John F. Cowell, director of the Botanic Garden at Buffalo, 

 N. Y., returned in the latter part of March from a collecting 

 expedition to Panama. 



Professor A. D. Selby, botanist of the Ohio Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, Woostcr, Ohio, returned early in April from 

 a several months' visit to Europe. 



Professor E. C. Jeffrey, of Harvard University, has been 

 awarded from the Elizabeth Thompson Science Fund a grant of 

 $200 " for the study of cupressineous conifers." 



Dr. D. T. MacDougal, accompanied by Mr. G. G. Copp, left 

 New York on March 10 to continue his studies of desert vegeta- 

 tion in the lower part of the valley of the Colorado River. He 

 is expected to return late in April. 



Colonel Nicolas Pike, a veteran naturalist, known to botanists 

 chiefly by his collections of marine algae in the vicinity of New 

 York, in Portugal, and in Mauritius, died in New York City, on 

 April 1 1 at the age of eighty-seven years. Pikca, a Califor- 

 nian genus of red algae, was named in his honor by Harvey 

 in 1853. 



Volume 9 of the Contributions from the United States Na- 

 tional Herbarium is an alphabetical annotated list of " The Use- 

 ful Plants of the Island of Guam, with an introductory account 

 of the natural history of the island, of the character and history 

 of its people, and of their agriculture," written by William 

 Edwin Safford. The volume is well illustrated and contains 

 much of general interest. 



Professor I'rancis IC. Eloyd, of the Teachers College, Colum- 

 bia University, has been awarded a grant of ^^500 by the Carnegie 

 Institution to further his studies of stomatal action and transpira- 

 tion in desert plants. He will spend the summer at the Desert 



