REVIEWS

West and West's Monograph of British Desmidiaceae. Vol. III*

In their third volume of the British Desmidiaceae, W. and G. S. West have nearly completed the genus Cosmarium, fifty species of which were already taken up in the latter part of volume two. In this third volume one hundred and seventy three species with their several varieties are taken up and illustrated by thirty plates (65-95), partly colored. The general plan of the earlier volumes is followed: synonymy, description, distribution, and general notes under each species. One new species, Cosmarium entochondrum, is described, also thirteen new varieties. In addition several new forms are described and a number of changes of rank and position made.

The figures are excellently drawn and in many cases show front, vertical, side, and basal views of the same specimen. The colored figures show the arrangement of the chloroplasts and pyrenoids in a number of species. In a very few cases variations of ornamentation are definitely shown.

The volume shows our great lack of knowledge of the sexual phases of the life history in this group, the number of species with zygospores being but 15 per cent. of the total and in some of these the zygospores are not mature. In a group as variable

as the Desmidiaceae this lack of the sexual characters is all the more felt in determining the true relationships of apparently very similar forms.

This volume will do much to help the study of this genus, which has been difficult on account of the great number of species and the scattered literature.

JOSEPH A. CUSHMAN

PROCEEDINGS OF THE CLUB

MAY 11, 1909

The meeting was held at the American Museum of Natural History with Vice-president Barnhart in the chair. Ten persons were present.

*West, W. and West, G. S. Monograph of British Desmidiaceae. Vol. III. 1908. Ray Society. Dulau and Co., London.

Resignations were accepted from Miss Lenda Tracy Hanks, Miss Helen D. Nelson, and Mr. Arthur Smith.

The scientific program of the evening consisted of a lecture by Dr. William A Murrill on “Edible Fungi ", illustrated by specimens and by lantern slides.

Mushrooms were discussed from the popular side as objects of interest and as valuable relishes. The development and cultivation of the common field mushroom were briefly described. Poisonous species and their effects were described with care, and comparisons were made with edible species liable to be confused with them.

Fresh specimens of four early species were exhibited the glistening ink-cap, Coprinus micaceus, which appeared the last week in April; the shaggy-mane, Coprinus comatus, which appeared about May 10 (unusually early for this species); Pleurotus sapidus, a relative of the oyster mushroom, just beginning to appear on old logs and stumps; and the morel, Morchella, which occurs on the ground in woods during May.

Lantern slides were used to illustrate the more important local species of edible fungi, beginning with agarics found on lawns and in fields, such as species of Agaricus, Lepiota, Coprinus, Hypholoma, and Marasmius. Species occurring on the ground in woods were next discussed, including Lactaria, Russula, Tricholoma, Clitocybe, and other important genera of gill-fungi. Woodloving forms comprise a number of important species that are abundant and much used, such as Armillaria mellea, Hypholoma perplexum, Pleurotus ostreatus, Pleurotus sapidus, Coprinus micaceus, and Collybia velutipes.

Other groups of fungi containing edible species, were illustrated by Clavaria, Hydnum, certain tender forms of Polyporus, several species of Boletus, and a number of species of Lycoperdon. All species of coral-fungi and puffballs were recommended for food, provided the specimens were tender, young, and fresh.

Adjournment followed.

MARSHALL A. HOWE,

Secretary pro tem.

OF INTEREST TO TEACHERS

SECONDARY SCHOOL AGRICULTURE

The March number of School Science and Mathematics has an article by D. O. Barto on problems in secondary school agriculture which is interesting to teachers of nature study in the grades and to teachers in the high school. The lack of success in the grades is explained as follows:

"It must not be forgotten that agriculture is largely a science study. It requires some knowledge of the principles of many sciences, and the ability and interest to apply them intelligently. These conditions of scholarship can be expected only in pupils of a certain breadth and maturity of development and comprehension seldom found in the elementary grades.

"A pupil can make little headway in the study of agriculture unless he knows something of physiography, geology, botany, zoology, physics and chemistry. It is not a question of whether he has studied these sciences before he takes up agriculture whether he pursues them as separate subjects or learns them as he studies agriculture. The important thing is that some knowledge of these other subjects is indispensable to any serious and effective work in the study of agriculture, and this is a qualification that can hardly be expected to be attained in the elementary grades.

"There is much valuable work that is scientific and agricultural that may be done should be done in the elementary grades when we have teachers prepared for it. But agriculture is an applied science. It has won its way only by demonstrating to the farmer that it could be made of practical service to him. As a school study its value and usefulness will largely depend upon the results that can be obtained from the application of principles of science, and this work will demand a sustained interest that young children cannot furnish."

With regard to the conditions in the secondary schools much of the above is true, especially where the work is placed in the lower high school years. Mr. Barto, however, gives in this article some encouraging results of work being done in Illinois.

A key to the common winter trees about Milwaukee which is not so local as the title indicates appears in the April School Science and Mathematics. The author, I. N. Mitchell, has made the key simple enough for high school pupils.

Dr. John M. Coulter has an article on teaching botany in the April School Science and Mathematics in which the current conditions are discussed under the headings of the prepared teacher, economic botany, biological grouping, and the point of interest.

The April Journal of the New York Botanical Garden contains three illustrated articles which will prove interesting to the general reader one on the fern collections of the Garden by Ralph C. Benedict, another on East Indian economic plants written by Percy Wilson, and an account of some experiments on the effect of the soil of the Garden hemlock grove upon seedlings by Winifred J. Robinson.

Viewing the government as a teacher, Mr. L. B. Stowe, in the Outlook for April 17, enumerates the scientific principles demonstrated within the past few years, and gives interesting concrete illustrations. Those of special interest to us are connected with forest and staple crop protection and with improved methods of farming, such as following the contours of the hill in plowing a hillside instead of plowing straight across the slope.

The April Plant World contains two papers which were read at the Baltimore meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science: one on overlapping habitats as observed in Mexico by Francis E. Lloyd; and another by W. M. Crocker and L. I. Knight on the effect of illuminating gas upon the flowers of both cut and growing carnations, and the losses sustained by florists through defective pipes, even where chemical tests failed to reveal the presence of gas.

The University of Colorado has recently issued a botanical number as the first number of its sixth volume of studies. The

magazine, which should prove interesting to all botanical students in that region, is illustrated, and contains papers by the members of the biological staff on the "botanical opportunity in Colorado", on the mesa and foothill vegetation, especially with relation to physiography and climate, with the distribution of conifers and deciduous trees, and a bibliography and history of Colorado botany.

Dr. O. F. Cook in discussing the history of the cocoanut palm says: "It has long been thought that the cocoanut palm presents a perfect example of adaptation to a littoral environment, but this idea is delusive. The tough outer rind which is popularly supposed to have been developed as a protection against sea water is really to guard the cocoanut when it falls, and give it favorable conditions for germination. Cocoanuts require a certain amount of salt in the soil, but this condition is satisfied by soils in some interior localities as well as on the seacoast. Considerable sunshine is also needed. This, however, is met better in arid regions than by a coastal habitat and the care with which the milk is protected would argue in the same direction. Far from being a wild

plant the cocoanut does not appear to thrive long away from human beings and in spite of the supposed diffusion of the tree by oceanic currents no instance of the kind is known."

A freak dandelion, Taraxacum taraxacum (L.) Karst., is described by M. P. Somes in the April American Botanist:

"In place of the scape which all self-respecting dandelions rear aloft, this 'freak' had a stem, amply provided with leaves —not in whorls, if you please, but alternate. The tip of the flower stalk was bifurcate and bore two heads, rather smaller than the average but perfect in other respects. Near the base of the stem to still further emphasize the abnormality was an auxiliary peduncle tipped by an immature head. There were several plants with this leafy stem habit and all very similar in the forked flower stalk. The soil was an ordinary black earth quite moist but in no way noticeably peculiar and six feet away in the same soil were normal plants of the same species. A friend, who is