1877.] . Botany. . 683 
the smoke, The nose commences to run first, and if it does so freely 
the beast is safe. The natives also say that if a cow eats it they give 
acid, unripe apricots, or any vinegar, which aids the recovery. A large 
number of the horses this year at Gulmuz were poisoned by it; none 
died, as all smoked their horses.” In Dr. Hance’s previous article, men- 
tion was made of a statement by a French missionary which is mate- 
tially identical with the above. Professor Dyer suggests in a note to 
Dr. Hance that the Stipas may be only mechanically poisonous, like 
Hordeum pratense, but Dr. Hance adds that though it is indisputable 
that various grasses in Europe and Australia cause injury or death to 
cattle from their irritant properties, the special symptoms in the case of 
the Stipa and in Melica seem opposed to such a supposition. “ In a re- 
cently published translation of Ptzevalsky’s travels the Alashan poison- 
ous grass is said to be a species of Lolium, and it is added that the native 
herds carefully avoid eating it.” 
In the September number of the Botanical Gazette Dr. J. T. Roth- 
rock has a short note upon the Leguminose poisonous to stock. , These 
plants are Oxytropis Lamberti in Colorado, Hosackia Purshiana in 
Arkansas, and two or three species of Astragalus in California. 
A REMARKABLY Larce Ostrya Virerica.— Mr. Robeson, of 
Lenox, has sent me the dimensions of a remarkable plant of Ostrya 
Virginica, which I found last summer growing near the roadside in 
West Stockbridge, Mass. I place it on record because it is more than 
twice as large as the specimens of this species mentioned in any of the 
works on American trees. Larger specimens, if they anywhere exist, 
should be reported, that more accurate information may be obtained on 
the development, under favorable conditions, of this tree. Mr. Robeson’s 
measurements are, girt of stem at the ground 9 feet 11 inches, at 4 feet 
from the ground 7 feet 2 inches ; height to first branches 6 feet 4 inches ; 
spread of branches from east to west 47 feet, from north to south 45 feet; 
height of tree 48 feet 7 inches. — C. S. SARGENT. 
_ Atpine Prants.— Mr. C. G. Pringle, of Charlotte, Vermont, offers 
for exchange or sale a few sets of the Alpine plants of New England, the 
fruit of his extensive herborizing during the past summer in the White 
and Green mountains. Mr. Pringle’s collections contain Gentiana Ama- 
rella var. acuta (AMERICAN NaTURALIST, volume ii., page 620), Anemone 
multifida, Astragalus Robbinsii, Gnaphalium supinum, Orchis rotundi- 
-~ Jolia, Danthonia bongivisdi, and all or nearly all the other rare plants of 
his region. 
_ How PLANTS GUARD AGAINST ANIMALS AND Bap WEATHER is an 
.. English title for a German work which has been lately issued as a sup- 
plement to Botanische Zeitung. Otto Kunze, the author, has brought 
_ together within small compass a vast number of most interesting fists 
_Tespecting the means by which plants protect themselves against animals 
and unfavorable weather. He has also presented the results of some 
