Botany. 479 



highest developed and acquires large dimensions in some genera, 

 viz : Uhiola, Phcenosperma, etc. The seed-coat is closely adherent 

 to the pericarp in the Graminece with the exceptions of PJleusine,. 

 Dactyloctenium and Zizaniopsis. The epidermis of nucellus 

 may, also, persist as a hyaline covering or it may be developed 

 much further and serve for the protection of the seed, as in 

 Bromns and Brachypodium . The fruit is an achamium in 

 PJleusine, Dactyloctenium and Zizaniopsis y it is a somewhat 

 modified caryopsis in Sporobolus and Crypsis, but in all the 

 other genera examined the fruit is a true caryopsis. A seed- 

 coat is, thus, always present, but the structure is often obscure 

 and not readily perceived, unless the tissues have been studied at 

 the younger stages of both fruit and seed. t. h. 



2. Alpine plants from Tibet and the Andes. Abstract of a 

 paper by W. B. Hemsley and H. H. W. Pearson, read before 

 the Linnean Society. (Journ. of Botany, London, 19C0, vol. 

 xxxviii, p. 288.) — Students of alpine floras maybe interested to 

 learn that in Central and Northern Tibet, at an elevation of from 

 15,000 ft. to 19,200 ft. above sea-level, the following orders pre- 

 dominate : Composite, Degumi?iosce, Cruciferce, Banuncidacece 

 and Graminece. At 19,000 ft., the greatest altitude on record 

 for flowering plants, Deasy and Pike have recorded : Corydalis 

 Hendersonii, Arenaria Stracheyi, Saxifraga parva, ISedum 

 Strachcyi, Saussurea bracteata, Gentiana tenella, G. aquatica, 

 an unnamed species of Astragalus and of Oxytropis ; at a lower 

 elevation, c. 17,000 ft., Allium Semenovii was found in great 

 abundance. 



In the Bolivian Andes, Sir Martin Conway collected 7 species 

 from 18,000 ft. or above, two being as high as 18,700 ft. These, 

 the highest Andine plants on record, are : Malvastrum flabellatum 

 Wedd. and Deyeuxia glacialis Wedd. 39 species were observed 

 above 14,000 ft., and these belong to 34 genera and 21 orders, of 

 which 15 are included in the Compositw • of the 34 genera, 

 Blumenbachia is the only one that is endemic to South America. 



T. H. 



IY. Miscellaneous Scientific Intelligence. 



1. Smithsonian Institution Publications. — The following papers 

 form parts of vol. xli of Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections : 



Index to the Literature of the Spectroscope (1887-1900 both, 

 inclusive); by Alfred Tuckermann. Pp. 373. 



Bibliography of the analytical Chemistry of Manganese (1785- 

 1900); by Henry P. Talbot and John W. Brown. Pp. 117. 



Chemical Societies of the Nineteenth Century ; by Henry 

 Carrington Bolton. Pp. 15. 



2. United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. Annual Report 

 1900 ; by O. H. Tittman, Superintendent. 712 pp., with numer- 

 ous maps and illustrations. — The field work of the Coast Survey 

 during 1899-1900 was widely distributed over the United States, 



