— 94 — 
pale powdery Amphiloma lanuginosam and a moss, Plagiothecium sp., are promi- 
nent. 2. Moss stages, (a) The first is characterized by Anomodon attenuatus 
with the secondary species, Leskea sp., Anomodon minor , Grimmia apocarpa, 
and the liverwort, Porella platyphylla. (b) Next comes a moss stage char- 
acterized by a dense mat of Mnium cuspidatum with the secondary species, 
Rhodobryum roseum, Cathannea crispa, Entodon seductrix, Brachythecium sale- 
brosum, Fissidens incurvus, and the mosses of stage “a.” The hepatic, Cono- 
cephalum conicum, and the lichen, Peltigera apthosa, are sometimes important 
here. This moss mat forms under it a thick layer of humus, thus leading to 
occupation by the herbs Aquilegia, Sedum, Cystopteris fragilis, Woodsiq obtusa, 
Poa compressa, Silene virginica, Camptosorus, etc., this later stage eventually 
passing into a shrub stage of Ribes gracile, Staphylea, Rhus canadensis, and 
Toxicodendron, Hydrangea, and Physocarpus. 
O. E. J. 
Predigested Cladonias. — The story of natives of Madagascar feeding 
dispeptics on rice which has been cooked in the hollow portions of pitcher-plants 
and thus partially digested by the ferments of the “pitchers,” is recalled by 
the following item, quoted from an interesting article 6 on the foods eaten by 
the natives of far northern regions in Canada: 
“The Arctic ‘salad,’ which seems to be favored more in winter, when no 
vegetable food has been seen for months, is the first stomach or rumen of the 
caribou when it happens to be filled with freshly-chewed reindeer-moss or Cla- 
donia lichens. This is frozen whole and sliced off very thin, the gastric juice 
supplying the acid, and a liberal mixture of seal-oil the salad dressing. The 
caribou stomach is seldom eaten except when filled with the succulent reindeer- 
moss, and when it contains woody grass-fibre is usually discarded. This food 
may properly be classed as ‘pre-digested,’ and under certain extenuating cir- 
cumstances, such as a trail appetite, a long siege of one-course rations of meat, 
anything ‘different ’ may have some attractions, but few white men venture to 
experiment with it.” 
O. E. J. 
“Botanical Abstracts,’’ a New Journal. — During the meetings of the 
American Association for the Advancement of Science and various affiliated 
societies in Pittsburgh last winter, a number of botanists, mostly editors of 
botanical magazines, got together and discussed plans for the publication in 
English of a magazine devoted to brief summaries or abstracts and citations of 
publications in botany. Organization was effected at the second meeting and 
a board of control elected, which, after the beginning of 1919, shall be composed 
of representatives elected from the various Americafi botanical societies and 
organizations having to do with botany in its broadest sense. Dr. B. E. Living- 
ston, Johns Hopkins University, finally consented at considerable sacrifice of 
time and effort to serve as editor-in-chief, assisted by nearly a score of editors 
6 Anderson, Rudolph M. Eskimo Food — How It Tastes to a White Man. Ottawa Natural- 
ist 32 : 59-65. Oct., 1918. 
