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parent sporophyte." A careful study is planned; it is thought 

 that histological characters of the trees may indicate a cross. 



The botanic garden papers read at the Boston meeting (A. A. 

 A. S.) have been reprinted in Science (April 29, May 6,). In 

 all the garden is discussed as a public institution, whether from 

 the viewpoint of administration, rare plants, taxonomic complete- 

 ness, or landscape effects. Professor Blakeslee's paper on the 

 botanic garden as a field museum includes many suggestions^ 

 some of which feature in our better botanic gardens and which 

 might be incorporated into many school gardens — even the small 

 ones. A garden dictionary — and that of common things — is ad- 

 vocated rather than a " plant circus " where the curious may enter 

 with the expectation of being surprised at oddities in nature and 

 horticulture. Improvement under cultivation, plant diseases, and 

 illustrations of heredity, variation, and hybrids (including even 

 Mendel's law, faihng to come true to seed, etc.) may be shown 

 in odd corners of a school garden and with inexpensive material. 



An interesting review of Researches on Fungi, by A. H. 

 Reginald Duller, is given in Science (March 1 8) by Professor George 

 F. Atkinson. The review includes brief mention of the geotropic 

 curvature of the stem of certain mushrooms (in Copri?ins an 

 " overtiming or supracurvature four times before it came to rest 

 in the perpendicular position ") ; the adjustment of the pileus in 

 a horizontal position by the negatively geotropic stem, and the 

 finer adjustment of the gills by their positive geotropism ; the 

 immense numbers of spores produced by single individuals 

 (varying from 2,000,000,000 in Agaricns canipestris to 

 7,000,000,000,000,000 in Lycoperdon giganteiivi ; the enormous 

 spore waste, (in Polyponis squamosns, about one spore in a trillion 

 has a " chance of starting a new successful cycle) ; the resuming 

 of spore ejaculation by many of the xerophytic fungi which have 

 been preserved dry for months or even years ; and autodigestion 

 of regions of the inky caps follozving spore dissemination, the 

 spores being, it is held, anemophilous, and not mixed with the 

 inky liquid and spread by insects. 



