Contributions to Canadian Botany. 153 



A vena strigosa, Schreb. 



A weed in cultivated fields nearSooke, Vancouver Island, 

 1893. (John Macoun. Herb. No. 48.) New to Canada. 



Poa trivialis, L., var. piliculmis, Scribner, new var. 



Culms smooth, very slender from a creeping rhizome, 

 radical leaves short, those of the culm 1-2 inches long, a 

 line wide or less, acute, scabrous ; ligule 2 lines long, acute. 

 Panicle 1-2 inches long, pyramidal. Spikelets two-flowered, 

 1J- lines long, much longer than the pedicels. Empty 

 glumes very acute, narrow-lanceolate, the first one-nerved 

 a little shorter than the three-nerved second glume, both 

 scabrous on the sharp keel. Flowering glume 1J lines 

 long, acute, distinctly five-nerved, pubescent on the sharp 

 keel for one-half its length, and with a cobwebby tuft at 

 base. 



In wet meadows at Comox, Vancouver Island, 1893. 

 (John Macoun. Herb. No. 282.) 



VlSCOMETRY. 



Anthony McGill, B.A., B. Sc, 



Assistant Analyst, Inland Revenue Laboratory, Ottawa. 



In making determinations of the viscosity of cylinder 

 oils, I have been in the habit of using an improvised instru- 

 ment made by jacketing an ordinary 50 cc. pipette. The 

 pipette is conveniently filled by connecting its upper end 

 to a suction pump (Bunsen's), and a series of readings can 

 be very rapidly made at about 203° F. to 210° P., using 

 free steam. In order to obtain concordant results, it is 

 necessary to cut off the lower tube of the pipette very 

 short, and to allow it to protrude beyond the cork in the 

 lower end of the steam jacket but a very little way. I 

 have found it practicable to run a cylinder oil at 208° to 

 210° Fah., averaging 49 sec. for 25 cc. in ten successive 

 experiments, the greatest deviation from this average being 

 less than 2 seconds. 



This is a better result than I have been able to get with 



