ABSTRACTS. 



581 



sucker ; because it is in unbroken connection with an abundant food 

 supply, so acting like a parasite. Attention is called to the fact that in 

 this case parasitism in habit and structure is developed by the environ- 

 ment in a single generation from a long line of independent plants. It 

 would seem to the author, therefore, that the influence of heredity is less 

 powerful than the power of reaction to certain immediate stimuli. " May 

 not this always be the case ? May it not be that what we call heredity 

 is really the response to similar stimuli and combinations of stimuli 

 occurring in orderly succession in the course of nature ? " — G. H. 



Shallot. By L'Ortolano {Bull. B. Soc. Tosc. Ort. 8, p. 251 ; 

 August 1901). — Propagated by means of the smaller bulbs which have 

 been discarded as useless for the table or sale ; which bulbs must be 

 planted in soil manured the preceding year, as the plants will not bear 

 fresh manure or moisture. They may be planted in February or March, 

 or in October and November. In July or August, when the foliage has 

 turned yellow, and after having let it dry for some time in the sun, the 

 new bulbs are removed from the soil and placed indoors where the air is 

 neither moist nor cold.— TF. C. W. 



Sibljak-formation, a little known bush-growth of the Balkan 

 region. By L. Adamovic (Engl. Bot. Jahrh. xxxi. pp. 1-29;- 

 16 8 1900). — The author gives an account of the various types of bush- 

 growth as determined by the principal constituent, and in each case a list 

 of the plants which form the undergrowth. — A. B.B. 



Simarubacese. By F. Jadin [Ann. Sc. Nat., Botan. t. xiii., p. 201 ; 

 56 figures and one plate ; 1901). — The author has investigated 109 of 

 the known 138 species, and gives descriptions of all the genera of this 

 order. Special attention has been given to the internal structure, and, as 

 a result, a rearrangement of the genera is proposed, while two — Suriana 

 and Holacantha — included by some authors, are excluded from the order. 



W. G. S. 



Slug's, Observations on, and on Experiments for the Purpose 

 of Destroying Them (U.S.A. Exp. Stn. Becord, vol. xii. No. 11,1901, 

 p. 1,063). — It is noted that an abundance of fresh vegetation and moisture 

 is most favourable for the development of the field slug, Liinax agrcstis. 

 Its distribution is checked considerably where dry conditions prevail. 

 Many experiments with various insecticides were conducted, but it was 

 proved that "white hydro-oxide of calcium in a 1 to 2 per cent, solution 

 in water" was the most destructive agent. It was also concluded that 

 "from eight to nine o'clock p.m." was the most satisfactory time for the 

 remedy to be applied. — E. F. H. 



Smut : Formalin as a Preventive of Oat Smut. By William 

 Stuart (U.S.A. Exp. Stn. Purdue Univ. Indiana, Bull. 87, 1901).— Gives 

 details of experiments proving the efficiency of soaking smutted Oat grains 

 for two hours in a " 1 in 60 solution " of formalin (i.e. a pint of formalin 

 to sixty pints of water). Comparison is made with the hot- water 



