2 6o 
Botany at Chicago University. 
The wood itself contained Quercus pedunculata and Fraxinus 
excelsior (co-dominant in places and largely self-sown), Ulmus 
montana (self-sown, locally dominant), Prunus spinosa (abundant), 
Pyrus mains , Cratcegus monogyna, Corylus Avellana, Ilex aquifolium 
(self-sown), Viburnum Opulus, Euonymus europceus , Fagus silvatica 
in places, Rubus fruticosus (agg.), R. ccesius, Pledera Helix (very 
abundant), Lonicera periclymenum, Geum urbanum, Viola silvatica 
(agg.), Circcea lutetiana, Oxalis acetosella, Primula acaulis, Carex 
silvatica, Vicia sepium, Stellaria Holostea, Arum maculatam, Geranium 
Robertianum, Glechoma hederacea, Brachypodium silvaticum, Bromus 
asper, the species of Epipactis met with in the hazel-scrub below 
Slieve Carran, Aspidium Filix-mas, Polystichum angulare, Poly podium 
vulgare. Pteris aquilina occurred, but was very scarce. In parts 
of the wood the oak was dominant and the ash scarce. 
Although developed over limestone the soil over considerable 
tracts gave no calcareous reaction, and the general characters of the 
wood inclined to the oak- rather than to the ash-type. It is, 
however, quite possible that it has been derived from a wood of the 
ash-type by continuous accumulation of soil and washing out of 
lime, and this view is supported by the abundance of ash in parts, 
and the occurrence of species like the Spindle-tree and the 
Helleborine, as well as by analogy with various English woods. 
BOTANY AT CHICAGO UNIVERSITY: 
Some Impressions. 
O dream that one dwells in marble halls becomes a reality on 
entering Chicago University, which provides each of the 
great branches of learning with a spacious and handsome building 
on the “ campus ” or great stretch of wooded land it has acquired 
on the south side of the city. Overlooking the English Quadrangle 
and in sight of the Mitchell Tower, supposed to be to the Chicagoan 
what Magdalen Tower is to the Oxonian, stands the glass-crowned 
building devoted to the Botanical Department—admittedly one of 
the strongest in the Science Faculty. 
With its two lecture rooms, five large private rooms for 
professors, seven or eight laboratories, a photographic room, and 
twelve private research rooms, it may well be the envy of the 
cramped London student, working in a building not many times 
larger, yet accommodating a dozen or more departments. Within, 
the genial professors, who are professorial in nothing but their 
scholarship, the assistants, and the students, from the gay young 
freshman to the newly made doctor, form one happy family, in 
which everyone knows, likes, and is not in the least in awe of 
anyone else. 
You may sit on the stairs and discuss alternation of generations, 
or anything else with a professor, but you must jump up if anyone 
wants to pass, and not look as if it were inconsiderate for him to 
choose that particular moment, for the general atmosphere is that 
