NOTES AND ABSTEACTS. 



231 



retarded, as in the case of suppressed trees in a wood, or trees stripped 

 of their fohage by insects or frost, then there results a year-ring which 

 is uniformly thin and starved. Other cases of cambium starvation may 

 result from throttling of the stem — e.g. by wire fastened round it, or 

 by ringing due to animals. . The paper is an important contribution 

 to the physiology of timber. — W. G. S. 



Campanula Beauverdiana. By 0. H. Wright {Bot. Mag. tab. 

 8299). Nat. ord. Campanulaceae ; tribe Camipanuleae. Transcaucasia 

 and Northern Persia. Herb, glabrous. Leaves oblong-ovate, 2J inches 

 long. Flowers solitary or few. Corolla blue, wide campanulate. 



G.H. 



Catalpa Midg'e {Cecidomyia catalpae, Comstock). By H. A. 

 Gossard {U.S.A. Exp. Stn. Ohio, Bull. 197; October 1908; 9 figs.).— 

 The midge attacks the leaves and seed pods, but the most conspicuous 

 form of injury is that done to the terminal buds of two- and three-year- 

 old trees in the nursery beds. Usually two or three inches of the 

 tender growing tips wither and turn brown, ultimately turning black 

 and shrunken. "When opened they are found to contain several small, 

 yelbw, footless maggots. 



The eggs are apparently deposited in the stem at the base of the 

 petiole, or in the petiole base itself, and the stem begins to die at 

 this point. In one small block of two-year-old catalpas about 25 per 

 cent, of the trees had been injured. In nearly every case the lateral 

 buds, at the last joint below the point of injury, had attempted to 

 produce a leader, which resulted in a crooked, forked stem. 



The illustrations show the injured buds, injury to seed-pods, spots 

 on the leaves, and the adult female midge with eggs and larvse. 



Among the remedies an application of kainit is recommended to 

 destroy the hibernating larvse and stimulate the trees. — V. G. J. 



Celery Growing- in Colorado. By L. J. Eeid {U.S.A. Exp. Stn. 

 Colorado, Bull. 144, March 1909). — Celery is chiefly grown in the 

 river-bottom lands. The farms are small, and heavy manuring takes the 

 place of regular crop rotation, with careful irrigation. Two varieties 

 are grown — Golden self -blanching and Giant Pascal. Blanching is 

 done by means of boards (expensive), earthing up, and also with paper 

 wrappings, finished off by earthing in trenches. The greatest draw- 

 back in celery -growing is a tendency in the maturing plants to go to 

 seed. It is supposed to be caused by " frosting " when the plant is 

 young, or a check in the way of drought, or poor quality in the plants 

 set out.— C. H. L. 



Centipede, The Common British. By W. Wesche, F.E.M.S. 

 {Knowledge, November, 1909, pp. 419-420; 9 figs.).— This famiHar 

 animal, which is apparently sensitive to light, although without eyes, 

 is described in detail, and its place in the animal kingdom pointed 

 out. Eeference is made to the alleged poison sac and appurtenances, 



