FIELD AND FOREST. 1 5 



aereal portions'. In one case of the German experiments, cuttings of 

 willow were placed in a jar containing a small quantity of water and 

 otherwise filled with illuminating gas. The buds opened, but before 

 the leaves could fully develop, they withered and died. Here we 

 have an atmosphere saturated with the gas and the question next 

 arises, what would be the influence of a comparatively small propor- 

 tion of gas in the atmosphere. The experiments in question were 

 made to determine this. Two good healthy plants {Camelias) were 

 selected and placed in closed wooden boxes provided with glass sides. 

 The dimensions of the boxes were two feet square in horizontal cross- 

 section, and four feet high. The plants were therefore placed under 

 the same conditions with regard to light, heat, and moisture. Into 

 one of these boxes, illuminating gas was conducted by means of a rub- 

 ber tube connecting with a gasometer, the latter being filled with gas 

 from the supply to the laboratory. The quantities introduced, were 

 as follows: February 24th, about 7.5 per cent.; February 25th, about 

 3.5 per cent.; February 27th, about 3.5 per cent.; March i, about 3.5 

 per cent. The figures represent percentage of the entire volume of 

 the box. 



At the end of the experiment, the plant thus treated was carefully 

 removed from "the box and dropped upon the ground with a tolerably 

 spaap shock, when all of the flowers, and nearly all of the leaves fell 

 off. The plant in the other box when taken out remained per- 

 fectly healthy. Taking into account the probable diffusion of the gas, 

 and the fact that when the top of the box was removed, no odor of gas 

 was perceptible, we concluded that if plants be kept in an atmosphere 

 containing continually one or two per cent, of illuminating gas, they 

 will suffer injury and perhaps complete destruction. 



Wm. McMurtrie. 



Potomac-side Naturalists' Club. 



June 7, 1875, (j-^oth meeting.) 

 Dr. E. M. Schaeffer gave an account of a recent case of poisoning 

 from the bite of a Copperhead snake, {Agkistrodon contortrix,) an ab- 

 stract of which is given on another page. 



He stated that there are but three snakes found in this vicinity whose 



