168 • Scientific Intelligence. 



devoted to a discussion of phyllotaxy. The arrangement of leaves 

 in spiral lines is first considered and then the various published 

 views upon this topic are discussed with some fullness. Schu- 

 mann passes in review Braun's work in establishing the study 

 of phyllotaxy upon a scientific basis, Hofmeister's effort to explain 

 the spiral arrangement by the fact that new organs are formed in 

 the largest gaps left between organs already formed, Sch wendener's 

 success in demonstrating the mechanical basis for phyllotaxy, and 

 Sachs's theory that the spiral lines, e. g. in the Screw-Pine, are 

 produced by torsion during the growth of the axis. He, himself, 

 points out that the arrangement of leaves in straight or spiral 

 ranks is intimately connected with the symmetrical or asymmetri- 

 cal development of the sheathing bases of the leaf, which make 

 their appearance upon the growing point of the plant before the 

 leaves do. This relation holds true in all Monocotyledons and 

 most Dicotyledons. In the second half, the special morphology 

 of the genus Adoxa and of the Cohort Fluviales is discussed in 

 support of this view. w. a. s. 



III. Miscellaneous Scientific Intelligence. 



1. Bulletin from the Laboratories of the State University of 

 Iowa. Vol. ii, No. 2. — This number of the Iowa Bulletin opens 

 with a long paper on the Myxomycetes of Eastern Iowa by T. H. 

 McBride, with ten beautiful plates from drawings by Miss Mary 

 P. McBride. It also contains four important paleontological 

 papers by S. S. Calvin; a paper by B. Shimek on the identity of 

 Pyrgula scalariformis with P. Mississippiensis, and its occur- 

 rence, with other species, in the loess of the Mississippi, but 

 known only in the fossil state ; and Notes on Karyokinesis, by 

 L. B. Elliott. Prof. Calvin reports on fossils from the Lower 

 Magnesian limestone of Northeastern Iowa, showing their rela- 

 tions to those of the Calciferons of New York. 



2. Astronomical Journal Prizes. — Two prizes of two hundred 

 dollars each, in a gold medal or in money, are offered in the Astro- 

 nomical Journal, No. 284, to be awarded to resident citizens of 

 the United States. Details of the conditions are given in the 

 Astr. Journal. 



The first will be given for the best series of determinations of 

 the positions of comets during the year ending March 31st, 1894: 

 — the second for the best discussion of the path of a periodic 

 comet, the investigation to be made within the two years next 

 preceding Sept. 1, 1894. 



3. OstwalcVs . Klassiker der Exaktea Wissenschaftea. — A 

 notice of this valuable series was given in the January number of 

 this Journal; the three following volumes have just been issued : 



No. 38. Photochernische Untersuckungen von R. Bunsen and H. E. Roscoe, 

 (1855-59). Zweite Halfte. 



No. 39. Die in der Atniospkare vorhandenen organisirten Korpercken: Prufung 

 der Lehre von der Urzeugung von L. Pasteur (1862). 



No. 40. Zwei Abhandlungen iiber die Warme von A. L. Lavoisier und P. S. 

 DeLaplace (1780 u. 1784). 



