OTHER PUBLICATIONS OF THE TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB (1) BULLETIN A monthly journal devoted to general botany, established 1870. Vol. 35 published in 1908, contained 608 pages of text and 40 full-page plates. Price $3.00 per annum. For Europe, 14 shillings. Dulau & Co., 37 Soho Square, London, are agents for England. Of former volumes, only 24-34 can be supplied entire; certain numbers of other volumes are available, but the entire stock of some numbers has been reserved for the completion of sets. Vols. 24-27 are furnished at the published price of two dollars each; Vols. 28-35 three dollars each. Single copies (30 cts.) will be furnished only when not breaking complete volumes. (2) MEMOIRS The MEMOIRS, established 1889, are published at irregular intervals. Volumes I-II and 13 are now completed; Nos. I and 2 of Vol. 12 and No. 1 of Vol. 14 have been issued. The subscription price is fixed at $3.00 per volume in advance. The numbers can also be purchased singly. A list of titles of the individual papers and of prices will be furnished on application. (3) The Preliminary Catalogue of Anthophyta and Pteridophyta reported as growing within one hundred miles of New York, 1888. Price, $1.00. Correspondence relating to the above publications should be addressed to DR. WILLIAM MANSFIELD College of Pharmacy 115 W. 68TH STREET NEW YORK CITY Botanical Observations in Iceland and Spitzbergen: JULIA T. EMERSON.... Reviews: Willis's Flowering Plants and Ferns: TRACY E. HAZEN...... Of Interest to Teachers: College Entrance Botany News Items ....... PUBLISHED FOR THE CLUB AT 41 NORTH QUEEN STREET, LANCASTER, PA. BY THE NEW ERA PRINTING COMPANY [Entered at the Post Office at Lancaster, Pa., as second-class matter ] 45 54 56 57 бо 63 THE TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB OFFICERS FOR 1909 President HENRY H. RUSBY, M.D. Vice-Presidents EDWARD S. BURGESS, PH.D. JOHN HENDLEY BARNHART, A. M., M.D. Το TORREYA is furnished to subscribers in the United States and Canada for one dollar per annum; single copies, fifteen cents. subscribers elsewhere, five shillings, or the equivalent thereof. Postal or express money orders and drafts or personal checks on New York City banks are accepted in payment, but the rules of the New York Clearing House compel the request that ten cents be added to the amount of any other local checks that may be sent. Subscriptions are received only for full volumes, beginning with the January issue. Reprints will be furnished at cost prices. Subscriptions and remittances should be sent to TREASURER, TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB, 41 North Queen St., Lancaster, Pa., or College of Pharmacy, 115 West 68th St., New York City. Matter for publication should be addressed to JEAN BROADHURST Teachers College, Columbia University In July of this year the writer was so fortunate as to have the opportunity of visiting some of the islands of the northern seas of Europe, and it is hoped the following notes may prove of interest to others who are as ignorant of the countries seen as the writer was. The steamer was in port often for a few hours only, in one or two places for thirty-six hours, and the excursions on land never went far inland or off the regular roads. A small trunk already well filled, and nothing but a life preserver to press specimens with made it necessary to keep the collections very small; therefore the list of plants observed does not pretend to be complete, especially as the writer was unfamiliar with the flora of northern Europe. After a couple of days in Edinburgh, one being spent in the city and the other in a hurried trip through the Trosachs, we reached Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands in the middle of the day. Substantial stone or brick houses with small windows and little yards or gardens made a typical Scotch town. The sycamore maple and the beech were the most conspicuous trees, and they were evidently glad of the shelter of houses, for exposed specimens were blown sideways by the strong winds, and the surrounding hills looked bare of trees or shrubs. All the seasonable vegetables and flowers were growing in the cultivated grounds near the town, but as the old Saint Magnus Cathedral and the ruins of the bishop's and the earl's palaces were well worth looking at there was no chance to get into the real country. [No. 2, Vol. 9, of TORREYA, comprising pages 21-44, was issued February 26, 1909.] *Illustrated with the aid of the Catherine McManes fund. THORSHAVN, FAROE ISLANDS A misty, cool day and the few trees or cultivated flowers made. us feel as if we were getting rather far north. Perhaps the many rocks and high winds discouraged farming or else fishing was a more profitable industry; at any rate the season was late and probably short, although the friendly fisherwomen declared they did not have a cold winter, and that it frequently was no colder than the day we were there. Grass was luxuriant on the sodded roofs of many of the tiny houses of the very picturesque little settlement, and some of the spring flowers were still in bloom such as buttercups, marigold, forget-me-not, daisy, Viscaria vulgaris, and a pink stone crop. A species of Sorbus, broad leaved willow, mountain ash, alder, hawthorn, and maple, grew behind buildings, and in the yards were rhubarb, potatoes, and gooseberries. Some people who had gone inland came back with orchids, somewhat like the English Orchis pyramidalis, in their button-holes, which showed that a walk on those bare hills might lead to interesting discoveries. All the inhabitants turned out to receive us and were so cordial and clean, that in spite of the difficulties of speaking Danish we would have been tempted to remain for a few days had it been possible. On leaving Thorshavn our course took us through our first fiord, between Stromoe and Osteroe, and it was all the more impressive because unexpected. High terraces of bare rocks gave way to mountains with sides so sheer that the sheep seemed clinging to precipices, and multitudes of sea birds rose in whirring clouds from the deep fissures, startled by the unaccustomed sound of our whistle. The hills crowded in upon the waters until we could toss a biscuit ashore on either side; clouds hung low, lifting momentarily to reveal higher peaks beyond; the wind caught in such narrow valleys howled in the rigging, and as we had a glimpse of open sea through two majestic, jagged guardians of this gloomy passage, all the blasts of Boreas at once bore down upon us, and threatened rough waters outside -but instead the waves were not ruffled, the sun came out and the wind went as abruptly as it had come, while we went on our way to Iceland awed by such a strange farewell from those volcanic islands. |