4 



The Bulletin will be under the able editorship of Dr. A. David- 

 son, who brings to a congenial task an extensive knowledge of general 

 science, and is a specialist of national repute in the science of botany. 



The Southern California Academy of Sciences is fortunate in having 

 for its field of investigation an environment which is in many respects 

 unique. It is in a semi-tropic and semi-arid region, traversed by lofty 

 mountain ranges rich in mineral wealth, interspersed with valleys and 

 plains abounding in strange forms of plant and animal life. Two mighty 

 currents of the Pacific Ocean meet off the shores of Los Angeles County, 

 and here are innumerable marine forms which furnish inexhaustible mate- 

 rial for the researches of the biologist. 



In this broad, virgin field, embracing the great Southwest, are tireless 

 and ardent investigators, and it will be the province of our Academy, 

 through its organized work and through this medium of publication, to 

 gather and preserve to science and to the world the results of their labors. 



And now a word to other scientific bodies. We begin the publication 

 of our Transactions with a modest pamphlet of a few pages, but as our 

 societ}' has grown from a membership of twenty to nearly two hundred, 

 so we look forward to a substantial growth of our monthly periodical until 

 it shall be ecjual in dimensions and usefulness to the scientific journals in 

 the east and abroad. We therefore feel justified in asking all scientific 

 societies to place our Bulletin on their exchange list, and we hope that 

 the benefits arising from this interchange of favors will be reciprocal. 



Wm. H. Knight, President. , 



A NEW ZAUSCHNERIA. 



BY A. DAVIDSON, C. M., M. D. 



ZAUSCHNERIA ARIZONICA Sp. IIOV. x 



Stems one to two feet high, decumbent, branching from the base ; 

 whole plant villous, not at all tomentose ; leaves ovate, one to one and a 

 quarter inches long and half an inch broad, broadly sessile and usually 

 strongly denticulate, feather veined and markedly villous on mid-rib, veins 

 and edges ; lower leaves frequently obovate ; flowers scarlet, large, one 

 and a half inches long above the ovary ; caly?: tube cylindrical for three 

 lines above the globose base, minutely villous, lobes three lines shorter 

 than the corolla ; style exserted one inch or more ; stamens somewhat less ; 

 capsule pedicellate, one and one-quarter inches long, slightly villous at 

 base ; seeds large, in form resembling those of Z. Californica, var. micro- 

 phylla. Gray. (Fig. i.) 



Arizona : Chase Creek, Metcalf ; Aug. 1900, A. Da-i'idson, 365. Not 

 uncommon in the moist sand of this rocky creek at 5000 feet altitude. 

 Those found growing on drier ground, though of stricter habit and some- 

 what less villous, are quite as handsome in flower. 



