NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



841 



ing attention, and the population tends already to become more 

 stationary, so that there is more inducement to men to devote care and 

 trouble to what they may look forward to enjoying themselves. The 

 inhabitants of New Mexico consist chiefly of men from more humid 

 regions, who naturally think first of surrounding themselves with the 

 vegetation to which they were accustomed at home, but the local con- 

 ditions are described as being peculiarly severe. 



Very dry atmosphere, extreme daily variation in temperature, late 

 spring frosts, very high summer temperature, and very intense light are 

 among those enumerated, added to which the soil is extremely dry and 

 largely alkaline. 



It is therefore strongly urged that it is wiser not to attempt dis- 

 couraging experiments with plants which are most unlikely to flourish, 

 but to make use of the large class of beautiful native trees and shrubs 

 which exist within easy reach, and can in most cases be made available by 

 dint of the mere trouble of transplanting. The index gives the names of 

 thirty-seven sorts of desirable trees, shrubs, plants, and climbers which 

 are all to be found in the State, and reproductions are given of photo- 

 graphs of trees ; also hints on transplanting and propagating, and simply 

 worded descriptions of most of the species mentioned, which should 

 enable them to be easily recognised by the amateur, however completely 

 unlearned in the language of botany. — M. L. H. 



Mignonette ' Reseda Machet Perle Blanche.' By Max Gamier 

 (Bee. Hort. p. 71, Feb. 1, 1904 ; 1 illustration). — A very fine and robust 

 form of white Mignonette raised by Pape and Bergmann, Quedlinburg, 

 Germany.— C. T. D. 



Millipedes injurious to Plants. By F. Thomas (Nat. Zeit. Land- 

 Forst. ii. pp. 287-292, 1904 ; 1 fig.). — Notes on Blaniulus guttulatus, 

 Gerv. (Julus guttulatus, Bosc). Cucumbers were destroyed near the 

 surface of the soil, and the injury was traced to this species. Other 

 cases of injury to cultivated plants are given. The author believes that 

 injury by these millipedes is most likely to occur during moist weather, 

 whereas when the surface soil is dry the millipedes live deeper down. 

 Earthworms killed by hot water were found to attract numerous 

 millipedes, and the author recommends this as a method of trapping 

 them. He also observed, in the case of Cucumbers, the above species 

 was alone injurious, while other species found in his garden did not take 

 part in the attack. The paper refers to numerous works on millipedes, 

 but we fail to find any reference to those of John Curtis and Miss E. 

 Ormerod, in which much of the information given by Dr. Thomas has 

 long been available to English readers. — W. G. S. 



Miltonia Karwinskii. By R. A. Rolfe (Orch. Rev. vol. xii. p. 298). 

 History and descriptive references are given of this plant, the genus 

 Miltonia being divided into three geographical groups. — H. J. G. 



Mnium cuspidatum, The Archegonium of. By G. M. Holferty 

 (Bot. Gaz. xxxvii. No. 2, p. 106 ; with 2 plates). — This is a careful investi- 

 gation into the anatomy and development of the organ described. It 



