428 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
St. John's Wort and Insects. By W. W. Froggatt (Agr. Gaz. N.S.W. vol. 
XXX. pp. 470-472 ; I plate). — In certain districts of New South Wales, St. John's 
Wort {Hypericum perforatum) is a pernicious weed and is spreading rapidly. 
It is hoped that it may be kept in check by a Coccid {Icerya hyperici) which 
feeds on its roots and base of stems. The young female is inch long, of a 
reddish-yellow colour. The dorsal surface is covered with a woolly secretion 
interspersed with fine hairs. The adult female is ^ inch in length. It varies 
in colour from orange yellow to brick red. The black antennae have ten joints. 
The legs are black ; they are well developed and terminate in curved tarsal 
claws. — S. E. W. 
Salvia brevilabra Franch. By S. A. Skan {Bot. Mag. t. 8848 ; June 1920). — 
First collected in West Szechuan by Soulie, and later by Wilson, this herbaceous 
perennial of about 2 feet is hardy, has bullate, coarsely toothed leaves, and 
flowers with bluish-purple corolla rising from a reddish calyx. — F. J. C. 
Satsuma Oranges in Japan. By T. Tanaka {U.S. Dep. Agr., Bur. PL Ind. 
CP. and B.I., Circ. 5, pp. i-io ; 2 figs.). — ^The following varieties of Satsuma 
Oranges are cultivated in Japan : — ' Zairai,' the primitive variety, bears seedy 
fruit of an inferior flavour. ' Ikeda' has small round fruit with few seeds. It 
is a late variety and keeps well. ' Owari,' introduced in 1877, has largely replaced 
the preceding sorts.- It bears large fruit of good quality, is nearly seedless, and 
ripens early. ' Wase ' comes into bearing early, but is of weak growth. The fruit 
is large, with a conspicuous navel, and is usually seedless. The flavour is only fair 
and mildly acid. It ripens two weeks earlier than ' Owari.' The fruit of ' Hira ' 
is large, flattened, of mild flavour, and usually seedless. ' Ikiriki ' is of vigorous 
growth. The fruit has a mild flavour and contains few seeds. — 5. E. W. 
Satsuma Oranges in the United States. By L. B. Scott {U.S. Dep. Agr., 
Bur. PI. Ind. H. and P., Circ. i, pp. 3-7). — The ' Owari,' ' Ikeda,' and ' Zairai ' 
varieties of Satsuma Orange are grown in the States. Sufficient care has not 
been taken to segregate the different varieties in the orchards, and keep them 
distinct.— S. E. W. 
Seeds, The Influence of Physiological Condition of, upon the Course of Sub- 
sequent Growth and the Yield : Physiological Predetermination. By Franklin 
Kidd, M.A., D.Sc, and Cyril West, D.Sc. F.L.S. (^ww. Appl. Biol. vol. v. No. i, 
July 1918, "The Effects of Soaking Seeds in Water," pp. i-io, 2 figs. ; No. 2, 
Oct. 1918, Review of Literature, pp. 1 12-142 ; Nos. 3 and 4, Review of Literature, 
pp. 1 57-1 70, 3 text figs.). — Consideration of results makes it clear that differences 
in the resulting plants from seeds differing in degrees of ripeness cannot be satis- 
factorily predetermined in the cases of single species — due to the fact that records 
of plants grown from mature and immature seeds are complicated by some period 
of storage. Immature seeds are less tolerant of storage in dry condition. Total 
yields from them are generally less than those from ripened seed owing to the fact 
that a smaller percentage of the latter fail to germinate. Experiments for com- 
parison of yield per plant show that the advantage in favour of the matured seed 
tends to disappear or to be reversed, but as a general practice the use of immature 
seed is not to be recommended owing to its poor storage qualities. The conclusions 
drawn from a review of literature prove that the effects of parental conditions upon 
the seed are considerable ; the environment of the parent plant and the position 
of the seed on the parent plant are factors which play important parts, though 
the problem is complicated by hereditary factors. 
Soaking the seed in distilled water before sowing may have a "marked effect 
on the subsequent plant-growth, but a germination test cannot be trusted to 
give a standard by which to judge the effect, and quite different results are 
obtained by treating closely allied plants by the same methods. — R. C. S. R. 
Septoria, Biological Specialization in the Genus. By W. S. Beach {Amer. 
Jour. Bot. vol. vi. No. i, Jan. 1919, pp. 1-33; 2 plates, 13 figs.). — The author 
finds that certain species of Septoria are differentiated into biological forms, 
which in general are limited to one or to a few closely related hosts which they 
can vigorously infect. Certain species of Septoria vary considerably in mor- 
phological characters under different environmental conditions. Inoculation 
experiments show that Septoria malvicola E. & M. and S. Fairmani E. & E. 
are identical, and similar experiments show that the form S. Convolvuli Desm., 
parasitic on Convolvulus arvensis, is biologically as well as morphologically 
distinct from the type form of S. Convolvuli described upon C. Sepium, and that 
it is a new species. — A. B. 
