792 The American Naturalist. [September, 
further than for a teleological explanation of biological phe- 
nomena. Weismannism was much attacked and much mended. 
Cope issued several articles foreshadowing his now well-known 
book. Whitman showed from the history of the discussion, 
epigenesis vs. evolution, how the grounds of debate have com- 
pletely changed. 
In glancing over the work of the year, we see that the great 
advances were made in cytology in the broad sense, in the in- 
terpretation of the causes of the early ontogenetic changes, in 
the general physiology of organisms, in the experimental de- 
termination of form and in the quantitative study of variation. 
All of these are subjects little considered a decade or two ago. 
It is noticeable also that, although general biology has long 
been regarded as a free field for all speculators, the greatest 
activity among workers and the richest results are found 
when the students of fact are busy. This is the most hopeful 
sign for the future. 
THE SWAMPS OF OSWEGO COUNTY, N. Y., AND 
THEIR FLORA. 
By W. W. Row tes, 
CORNELL UNIVERSITY, ITHACA, N. Y. 
(Concluded from page 699.) 
THE LAKES. 
In the region of our ty pical swamps these lakes are frequently 
of considerable depth. Usually, however, they are comparat 
tively shallow. Stories are told here, as elsewhere, rs bot- 
tomless lakes” where a line, no matter how long, would not 
reach the bottom. The fine mud in the bottom was, in all prob- 
ability, the cause of the deception. At the bottom of the lake 
the mud is as mobile as water, and it is difficult to determine 
where fluid ends and solid begins, and hence the difficulty » 
sounding. There are at least three lakes in this region call s 
Mud Lake, a fact which testifies to their character. One® 
Mud Lake in Oswego town already described, another 18 10 
Scriba in the same county two or three miles south of the 
