90 



lack of a name may cause a plant to go unnoted a long time, 

 while the name alone may lead to further acquaintance never 

 otherwise obtained. 



Simple keys for tracing trees, flowers, etc., including the com- 

 mon cultivated plants, will take away one of the greatest draw- 

 backs to finding the name of a plant, that is, the knowledge of 

 difficult technical terms and the dependence of a determination 

 upon some seasonable condition distinguished with difficulty. 



Therefore, to create a more lasting interest in botany : 



1. Introduce the subject earlier in the pupil's life. 



2. Let the required amount of time given to introductory 

 work be increased. 



3. Have the basis for study comprehend a few types, includ- 

 ing some closely related to student's life. 



4. Learn by name as large a number of plants as possible. 



Laura Woodward. 



Hewitt Training School, 

 Trenton, N. J. 



Symons's Monthly Meteorological Magazine for November, 1907, 

 describes a unique hygroscope designed by John Aitken. The 

 petal of one of the so-called everlasting flowers is attached to a 

 stiff hair, which serves as a pointer, and the petal and hair together 

 are fastened on a dial, set in a metal case. The instrument is 

 about as sensitive as a hair hygroscope, but more compact and 

 cheaper. 



The Committee on the College Entrance Option, Professor W. 

 F. Ganong and F. E. Lloyd, presented a report at the second 

 annual meeting of the federated societies (the fourteenth of the 

 Botanical Society of America), held in Hull Botanical Labora- 

 tory, at the University of Chicago, December 31, 1907. The 

 committee recommeded that a somewhat revised fourth edition 

 of the high school course now used as a basis for the college 

 entrance examinations in botany be printed, and that the com- 

 mittee confer v/ith the American Society of Zoologists in for- 

 mulating a high school course in biology. 



The "birds-eye maple" is discussed in Science, March 27, 

 1908. The solution of Dr. A. W. Borthwick, of Edinburgh, is 



