236 Scientific Intelligence. 



5. The Araucariece, Recent and Extinct ; by A. C. Seward 

 and Sibille O. Ford. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. London, 1906, Ser. 

 B, Vol. cxcviii, pp. 305-411, pis. 23, 24. — In this admirable and 

 exhaustive account of the Kauri and Norfolk Island pines the 

 conclusion is reached that the morphologic tout-ensemble prima- 

 rily suggests descent from Lycopods, and that the relationship 

 of the "Araucariales" to other gymnosperms, which by nearly 

 common consent are now regarded as the descendants of seed 

 ferns, is presumptively purely homo-plastic. Although of much 

 value from the conservative standpoint, and at least a needed 

 check on undue haste, the validity of this interpretation will 

 probably be contested by most botanists, while all will recognize 

 that the ultimate solution must rest on paleontologic evidence, 

 which it is safe to predict will not long be wanting. g. r. w. 



6. Note sur une Florule Portlcmdifnne des environs de Bou- 

 logne-sur-Mer • par P. Fliche et R. Zeiller. Bull. Soc. Geol. 

 de France, 1904, 4e ser., T. IV, pp. 787-811, pi. ix. — In this 

 paper are described several new species of pine and a Sequoia, 

 as well as a new species of small Cycadeoidea trunk, C. pumila, 

 not unlike the Wyoming Cycadella. All are from the Middle 

 Portlandienne. The cycadean trunk is in the Beaugrand collec- 

 tion of the Museum of Boulogne-sur-Mer. Regarding the con- 

 ifers it is stated that : "These are the most ancient occurrences 

 of Sequoia and Pinus certainly known at present, it being 

 clearly apparent that the latter genus already played a role of 

 some importance, since marked by at least two clearly defined 

 species." g. e. w. 



7. Sur les plantes rhetiennes de la Perse recueillies par M. J. 

 de Morgan ; par R. Zeiller. Bull. Soc. Geol. de France, 1905, 

 4e ser., T. V, pp. 190-197. — Aside from its notable abundance of 

 conifers, this Rhsetic flora of Persia includes in addition to the 

 ubiquitous forms a remarkable mixture of European and Indo- 

 Chinese plants, although the Glossopteris types of the latter 

 region do not appear to have advanced into Persia. g. r. w. 



8. Affinities of certain Cretaceous Plant Remains com- 

 monly referred to the Genera Dammara and Brachyphyllum • 

 by Arthur Hollick and Edward C. Jeffrey. [Contribution 

 from the New York Botanical Garden, No. 79.] Amer. Nat., 

 1906, Vol. xl, pp. 189-216, pis. 1-5. — It is found that certain of 

 the cone scales referred by Heer to the existing Dammara in 

 reality belong to a hitherto unrecognized, primitive, and xero- 

 phyllous genus Protodammara ; also that various associated 

 leafy shoots and branches from the Atlantic coastal plain Creta- 

 ceous hitherto variously referred to Brachyphyllum, are, together 

 with certain accompanying lignites, strictly Araucarineous and 

 probably Protodammaran. But of far greater importance than 

 these elementary botanic facts are the methods that were used in 

 their accurate determination from such difficult material, — 

 maceration, separation, staining, imbedding, and sectioning. 

 The description of these processes is given, and by reason of 



