NOTE and COMMENT 



Odor of Trillium Erectum. — In this section, Trillium 

 crectiiui is of very decided odor. One plant placed in a room 

 10x10x9 feet, filled the air in twelve hours with an offensive 

 musk-like perfume that became more or less pleasing when re- 

 duced with a larger proportion of air. In a bed of fifty in the 

 open, you can detect the odor when standing several feet away. 

 — E. S. Mason, Utica, Mich. 



New Name for the Partridge Berry. — Last September 

 I spent several days in Northam, New Hampshire, some seven 

 or eight miles from the point of meeting of Canada, Vermont, 

 and New Hampshire. Here I found MitchcUa rcpcns, other- 

 wise known as partridge berry, pudding plum, or pigeon 

 plum, called by a name of possible historic value, viz : Jesuit 

 berry. — 6^. F. Sanborn, Covicord, N. H. 



The Species Conception. — The extreme morphological 

 dissimilarity between some mutations and their parent species 

 must teach us that little reliance can be placed upon the guesses 

 of systematists regarding the relationships in polymorphic 

 groups. The herbarium botanist should clearly realize that his 

 schemes of classification in Rnbus and Crataegus, for example,, 

 are probably entirely artificial and do not represent natural re- 

 lationships at all Very important systematic characters may 

 originate repeatedly and independently in unrelated lines of de- 

 scent. There is no test of what constitutes a species, except 

 that it shall reproduce itself from generation to generation. 

 Systematists should have a pragmatic attitude in describing 



