NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



295 



cent, of oil, and a residue of possible value for cattle food, which is 

 still under investigation. A soft down attached to the seeds to the 

 extent of about 6 grams to a plant may be of value as a substitute 

 for feathers in cushions, &c, for upholstery work. From the woody 

 tissue a pulp was obtained which made a paper of good quality. — 

 W. A. V. 



Narcissus : Climatic Influences on Hybridisation in 1912. By C. E. 



Shea (Garden, p. 463, Sept. 14, 1912). — March, April, and part of May 

 was a period of abnormally low temperature and frequent frost ; 

 coupled with this was an abnormal earliness in flowering. The 

 author found that the injury resulting from the abnormal conditions 

 sustained in the trumpet section was trivial when compared with that 

 sustained by the Medio and Parvi sections. He gives details of the 

 experiments on which the conclusions are based. 



Ib., p. 465, somewhat similar results were obtained by J. W. Jones, 

 though he attributes them to the pollen. — H. R. D. 



Narcissus poeticus. By Rev. J. Jacob [Garden, p. 341, July 6, 

 1912). — Notes on the numerous forms of N. poeticus grouped under 

 those with (1) an all-red eye ; (2) suffused red eye ; (3) rimmed eye. 



H. R. D. 



Nectar Organisms. By I. V. Schuster and V. Ulehla (Bet. d. 

 deutsch. hot. Ges. xxxi. 129-139 ; 1913 ; 1 plate). — The authors have 

 investigated the micro-organisms found in the nectaries of various 

 flowers, as well as in such positions as the cavity of the stigma in the 

 pansy. From their observations and cultures they conclude that 

 these organisms (yeasts and bacteria) are specially differentiated 

 forms, belonging to distinct species which have become adapted for 

 life in the nectar of flowers. They find that the almost ubiquitous 

 moulds (Mucor, Penicillium, Aspergillus, &c.) very rarely occur in 

 nectar, and that the presence of the special yeasts and bacteria is so 

 general as to suggest that we have here an interesting case of symbiosis, 

 or at any rate that these micro-organisms are not in the least degree 

 injurious to the flowers. It appears probable that the organisms in 

 question, or their spores, are carried from flower to flower by visiting 

 insects, and that the infection of the nectar by these special organisms 

 is not merely accidental and casual. Several species of both yeasts 

 and bacteria were distinguished, the bacteria being in some cases 

 motile and in others non-motile ; in most cases the same species was 

 found in nearly all the flowers examined, and none of them appear 

 to agree in specific characters with yeasts and bacteria occurring 

 elsewhere than in the nectar of flowers. — F. C. 



New Plants from Idaho. By Aven Nelson (Bot. Gaz., pp. 404-418 ; 

 Mar. 1912). — Describes new species of Melica, Calochortus, Zyga- 

 denus, Salix, Eriogonum, Stellaria, Crataegus, Trijolium, Lupinus, 

 Astragalus (2 sp.), Lathyrus, Viola, C ordylanthus, Pentstemon, 

 Artemisia. — G. F. S. E. 



