NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



569 



description, historical account, and synonymy of three species, A. 

 juacroacantha, A. Karwinskii, and A. rubescens, with several illustrations 

 of each of them. Under the first name A. flavescens, A. Besseriana, A. 

 pugioniformis, and other names are sunk ; under the second are sunk 

 A. Corderoyi and A. Bakeri ; and under the third .4. flaccida and 

 A. punctata. — G. S. B. 



Agave Watsoni. By J. R. Drummond (Bot. Mag. tah. 8214). — 

 Nat. ord. Amaryllidaceae ; tribe Agaveae. Central America (?). Stem 

 very short ; leaves apple-green, fifteen to twenty in a rosette ; flowering 

 stem 9 feet ; bracts awl-shaped ; perianth lobes green with a white 

 margin. — G. H. 



Alkali Soils, Comparative Tolerance of various Plants for 

 Salts common in. By T. H. Kearney and L. L. Harter (U.S.A. Dep. 

 Agr.,Bur. PI. Ind., Bull. 113 ; October 1907).— It is shown that different 

 varieties of the same species of plant differ considerably in their powers 

 of resistance to the action of magnesium and sodium salts in pure 

 solutions ; and closely related species of the same genus show similarly 

 marked differences. Great differences exist between different plant species, 

 even when belonging to the same family, in tolerance of pure salt solu- 

 tions. The addition of calcium sulphate in excess was found to greatly 

 diminish the toxicity of the magnesium and sodium salts to all the plants 

 (eight species) tested. The effect of mixed solutions of "alkali" salts 

 was also studied.— F. J. C. 



Anemone variata. By F. Foucard (Bull. Soc. Hort. Loiret, viii. 

 No. 9, 1908, p. 343). — Describes this new garden form as a probable 

 cross between A. fulgens and A. stellata, and useful for the spring garden 

 and for cutting. — E. A. B. 



Anisotes diversifolius. ByT. A. Sprague (Bot. Mag. tab. 8219).— 

 Nat. ord. Acanthaceae ; tribe Justicieae. Socotra. Shrub 1^ foot high ; 

 leaves elliptic ovate, J-l| inch long ; cymes short ; flowers pendulous ; 

 corolla flame-coloured, 1J-2 inches long. — G. H. 



Anthurium Scherzerianum rotundispathum. By R. Jarry- 

 Desloges {Rev. Hort. November 1, 1908, pp. 496-7 ; coloured plate).— The 

 plate represents a very fine form indeed, with an almost circular spathe 

 of large size, white profusely sprinkled or spattered with small crimson 

 spots on upper surface, while the inferior surface is almost suffused with 

 scarlet mottling on a white ground ; very handsome spadix, yellow, and 

 spirally twisted— C. T. D. 



Aphides, Notes on. By C. P. Gillette (Joum. Econ. Entom, i. 3, 

 pp. 176-181 ; June 1908). — Descriptions of Aphis gossypii Glover, 

 A. medicaginis Koch, A. carbocolor Gill, A. oenotheriae Oest., A. forbesi 

 Weed, together with a discussion of the influence of the host plant 

 upon the characteristics of the aphides, with the observation that " in 

 all our experience ... we have never had any reason to think that 

 a species is perceptibly changed in appearance because of a change 



