1878.] Zoölogy. 123 
Wiesner concludes his paper by the statement: “The physio- 
logical end of the absorption of light is no longer a secret, and I 
have at the same time detected a new function of chlorophyll.” — 
Annales des Sciences Naturelles, September. 
To the above may be added a brief reference to a note by 
Déherain, in which he states that he had obtained results different 
from those of Wiesner, and that he is soon to criticise further 
Wiesner’s paper. 
BoranicaL News.—Z7rimen’s Fournal of Botany for December, 
besides articles of local interest, contains an interesting discussion 
of some questions of botanical nomenclature, by J. Ball; some 
contributions to plant-chemistry, by A. H. Church; notes on 
. Japanese and Bermudian ferns, and notes on some hybrid brambles, 
by W. O. Focke ; Julius Wiesner’s work on the influence of light 
and radiant heat on the transpiration in plants is abstracted. The 
journal contains a discriminating review of Darwin’s Different 
Forms of Flowers on Plants of the same Species. 
The Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club for November and 
December, contains Wolle’s enumeration of Fresh Water Algæ, 
which embraces upwards of 150 forms new to the United States, 
= and 24 species new to science. Mr. Meehan describes the habits 
Of Gentiana andrewsit. Mr. C. F. Austin describes Danthonia 
_ faxoni n. sp., and two new mosses, while Mr. Davenport presents 
-a description of a new fern, Cheilanthes viscida, from California. 
ZOOLOGY. ! 
= PECULIAR FEATHERS OF THE YouUNG Ruppy Ducx.— The un- 
— usually narrow, rigid and acuminate tail-feathers which constitute 
_ acharacter of the genus Ærismatura are much more peculiar at an 
_ early stage of their growth. The curious structure will doubtless 
be new to most readers of the NATURALIST. 
___+ The accompanying cut will give an idea of the general appear- 
_ ance of the feather, which is, in 
_ fact, double, one complete feather 
_ growing on the end of another, 
LThe 
departments of Ornithology and Mammalogy are conducted by Dr. ELLIOTT | 
es, U.S. A. one js e a hase 
