42 



The society decided to hold its next annual meeting at Atlanta, 

 Georgia, in conjunction with the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science. 



Professor William J. G. Land, of the department of botany of 

 the University of Chicago, has returned with a large collection 

 of botanical specimens from Australia and the islands of the 

 Pacific. 



We learn from Science that William Greenwood Wright, an 

 entomologist, died on Sunday afternoon, December i, 1912, in 

 the eighty-third year of his age. He had been in apparently 

 good health and spirits for some time past. His name is frequent 

 in the two large volumes, "Botany of California," as he was an 

 enthusiastic collector of plants. He was a close friend of the 

 two pioneer botanists and collectors, Edward Palmer and C. C. 

 Parry, and made many excursions, of varying lengths, with them. 



We learn from the Bulletin of Foreign Plant Introductions 

 (No. 81) of a little-known fiber plant, Abroma augusta. Raised 

 from seeds from Calabar, Eastern Province, southern Nigeria. 

 It is "a large open bush widely distributed throughout the hot 

 moist portions of India, now cultivated in Africa. The bark 

 affords a strong white bast fiber, which is easily separated by 

 wetting in water or by decortication. It is readily propagated 

 by cuttings and may be made to yield annually two or three 

 crops of shoots, from 4 to 8 feet long, but requires rich land and 

 plenty of moisture. The fiber which is said to be stronger than 

 sunn hemp is strong, white and clean, and is chiefly used for 

 cordage by the natives." 



From the same source is taken the following account of an 

 interesting plant, Asparagus acutifolius, which is a wild asparagus 

 from Nice, Alpes Maritimes, France. "This plant is abundant 

 here in the wild state and the young shoots are gathered and form 

 a regular article of commerce in the market. The shoots are 

 much thinner than those of Asparagus offici?ialis (in its cultivated 

 form) but are very delicate of taste. The plant grows in the 

 very worst places as concerns absence of soil (in fissures of rocks, 

 high on the slopes of gravel, etc.), as well in the full burning 



