306 General Notes. [ May, 
ties of Calluna vulgaris on this continent six other stations, and in an 
interesting paper on the subject gives the following as his conclusions: 
Calluna vulgaris is an indigenous plant, and still exists as such in very 
small quantity on the peninsula of Halifax. In Point Pleasant Park, 
at Dartmouth, and possibly in other places, the stations for the plant are 
artificial, but the plants are probably native. “ The various traditions as 
to the foreign origin of the heather are not unlikely to have been sug- 
gested by the desire to account for the presence of what was regarded 
as necessarily a foreign plant rather than by actual historical facts.” 
Broom in Cape Breton, and Rhododendron maximum at Sheet Harbor, 
Nova Scotia, are discoveries reported by Professor Lawson. 
ANALYTICAL TABLES. — Professor Ordway, of the Massachusetts In- 
stitute of Technology, has sent us copies of analytical tables of the orders 
of Phzenogamia, and of the suborders of Cryptogamia. These are careful 
synopses of the-classifications of Lindley, Hooker and Baker, Schimper, 
Debat, Miiller, Rabenhorst, Harvey, Tuckerman, and Cooke. In view 
of the present lack of any hand-book on Cryptogams, for the needs of 
general students, the second table may be found convenient. The author 
has been most painstaking in his work. 
On THE Porosity or Woop. — Professor Sachs has published a pre- 
liminary communication on this subject in which he gives the results of 
his recent observations and experiments. The present treatment of the 
matter is new in some respects, and the conclusions are interesting. An 
abstract of these will be given in the next number of the NATURALIST. 
Ir1s.— Our eastern species of this genus need a thorough revision. | 
The manuals give but two tall species in the Northern States, a broad- 
leaved and a narrow-leaved one, that is, J. versicolor and I. Virginica of 
Linnzus, considering the latter as identical with the J prismatica of 
Pursh. Now Mr. J. G. Baker, of Kew, in a recent revision of the ge- 
nus, recognizes two broad-leaved species under the two Linnæan names, 
and restores Pursh’s name for the narrow-leaved plant. Two broad- 
leaved forms have certainly been cultivated in the European gardens 
even from the time of Linnus, and have always been known there by 
his names and considered distinct. As described by Mr. Baker, and as 
shown by figures, the most obvious difference appears to be one of size, 
I. Virginica being the taller and stouter, with larger and deeper-colored 
owers. Can we find in our wild plants any differences upon which this 
distinction can be maintained? s 
Mr. Baker says also that Z. tenax (a narrow-leaved Oregon species 
similar to Z. prismatica) is found in New Brunswick and Canada, and if 
so it should be looked for within our limits. Moreover the range of all 
these species is uncertain, especially toward the south, and the southern 
species generally need revision fully as much as the northern ones. It 
is probable that careful comparison will reveal new forms from there. 
The attention of all our botanists is requested to this matter during the © 
