This species was described from the Patoot beds of Greenland where it is sparsely represented. It is abundant, however, in the Upper Raritan of New Jersey, but of some scores of specimens examined by the writer all were detached and failed to show their habit of growth.

The botanical relationship of Dewalquea has always remained obscure and no better discussion of it is extant than that given by Saporta and Marion,* who after comparing these leaves with those of Ampelopsis, Arisaema, Anthurium (Araceae), etc., arrive at the conclusion that they are prototypes of the tribe Helleboreae of the Ranunculaceae.

The new species, a description of which follows, may be called :

Dewalquea Smithi sp. nov.

Leaves palmately decompound, the petiole dividing into three principal branches, the angle of divergence varying from 20° to 60° and the two lateral branches forking at an acute angle 1 to 2 cm. above their base. The middle leaflet is lanceolate in outline, being widest in its central part and tapering almost equally to the acute apex and base. Length 7.5 cm. to 16 cm. Greatest width 2 cm. to 4 cm. Margin entire or serrate, usually entire below and serrate in the apical three fourths, sometimes with large aquiline-serrate teeth. Midrib stout. Secondaries regular, subopposite, parallel; about 20 pairs, branching from the midrib at angles varying from 45° to 70° usually about 50°, curving upward and running to the marginal teeth in some specimens as in the restoration. In other specimens and in entire margined forms they are camptodrome. The base of the leaflet extends. downward to within 2 or 3 mm. of the forks of the petiole. Lateral leaflets more or less inequilateral, usually somewhat smaller than the middle leaflet. The internal leaflet is lanceolate, the outer lamina starting at or very near the point where the lateral branch of the petiole forks. The inner lamina, however, extends downward almost to the base of the lateral branch making the base markedly inequilateral. In general outline, marginal, and venation characters it is identical with the middle leaflet. The outer lateral leaflet is also somewhat inequilateral but less so than the internal lateral leaflet, its internal lamina starting at or near the fork and its outer lamina extending more or less below the fork. Marginal and venation characters as in the other leaflets.

*Loc. cit., pp. 55-61.

This handsome species is common in the Tuscaloosa Formation at Whites Bluff on the right bank of the Warrior River 309 miles above Mobile, Alabama. A small collection of fossil plants from this outcrop containing no less than 27 specimens of

this form. Several of these were complete and were sketched at the time they were collected, which proved fortunate, since the extremely arenaceous matrix did not withstand shipment very well. The museum material, while considerably broken, shows several entire detached leaflets and three or four basal

parts of the leaf showing the mode of division of the petiole. As a number of figures would be necessary to show the entire leaf a restoration of it is shown in the accompanying text-figure. This restoration is based entirely upon material representing all parts of the leaf and is therefore not hypothetical in any particular.

It is named in honor of Prof. E. A. Smith, the efficient state geologist of Alabama. Leaflets of this species, nearly all of which are terminal, are also common in the Middendorf clays near Langley, South Carolina.

This species is markedly distinct from the American species of Dewalquea previously described, all of which were apparently tripartite. Among the European species it is quite similar to the Senonian species Dewalquea insignia Hos. and v. d. Marck which is, however, entirely distinct. It is also similar to Dewalquea coriacea and Dewalquea pentaphylla described by Velenovsky from the Cenomanian of Bohemia.

As mentioned above this Alabama species shows entire and serrated forms and it is remarkable that wherever this genus has been found to occur in any abundance, two species are usually described, one entire and one with toothed margins. Thus in Germany Dewalquea haldemiana is entire while Dewalquea insignis is toothed, and probably both are the leaves of the same plant. In Bohemia Dewalquea pentaphylla is entire while Dewalquea coriacea is toothed. In the case of the Alabama plant it is believed that the entire and serrate leaves are specifically identical since the material shows a great many gradations in the size of the teeth and great variability regarding the proportions which the entire part bears to the toothed part on single leaflets. JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY,

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND

SHORTER NOTES

THE WEEPING WILLOW IN WINTER. A large weeping willow on the university campus shows, in winter, such a complete change from its "weeping" habit that further information seems desirable.

The slender unbranched twigs (one to two feet long),

which in the fall hung vertically from the whole tree, are now curled fantastically upward over the whole tree, giving it a rather bushy appearance. They have so changed their relative position with the parent branches as to be now, with few exceptions, wholly above the point of origin instead of hanging wholly below as in summer. The writer first noticed this in January, 1909, but supposing it well known, gave it no further thought except to look for it this year. In November the branches were still pendant; the next observation, January 1, 1910, showed again the winter condition described above. Has ony one observed the phenomenon elsewhere? When does it begin? What changes How can it be explained? Is there JEAN BROADHURST

take place in the spring?
any literature on the subject?

A WISCONSIn Riddle. - The accounts which the earliest explorers of our country have left of the plants which, for one reason or another, attracted their attention are always interesting, and not infrequently puzzling. Such is the Report of Father Dablon, given in the Jesuit Relations for 1671-72. He describes his new mission of St. François Xavier, at De Pere rapids, on Fox River, Wisconsin. While telling of his missionary labors among the savages, he comments also on the animals and the plants of the vicinage. "Besides the grapes, plums and apples," he writes, "which would be fairly good if the savages had patience to let them ripen, there also grows on the prairies a kind of lime, resembling that of France, but having no bitter taste, not even in its rind. The plant bearing it slightly resembles the fern."

Again he tells how an Indian pointed out to him a medicinal plant, whose root was "employed to counteract snake-bite, God having been pleased to give this antedote against a poison which is very common in these countries. It is very pungent, and tastes like powder when crushed with the teeth. It must be masticated, and placed upon the bite inflicted by the snake." He gathered some of this plant, "for future examination," but records no tests of its efficacy.

What were the plants which the good Father thus describes ? Probably botanists familiar with the region may be able to recognize them. S. B. PARISH

REVIEWS

Coulter and Nelson's New Manual of Rocky Mountain Botany *

Teaching botanists in the Rocky Mountain region, and in addition a wide circle of people who are interested in knowing the vascular flora, will welcome the "New Manual of Rocky Mountain Botany" by Professor John M. Coulter, of the University of Chicago, and Professor Aven Nelson, of the University of Wyoming. For years there has been no satisfactory manual of the region available. Since Coulter's Manual of the Rocky Mountain Region appeared in 1885, botanists have been active in the field, greatly increasing the known species and segregating large genera. Several publications, among these Professor Nelson's Key to the Rocky Mountain Flora, dealing inadequately with the spring and early summer flora have appeared at intervals. In 1906 there was published, at the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station, at Fort Collins, the "Flora of Colorado" by Dr. P. A. Rydberg, which contains analytical keys to the orders, genera, and species but no decriptions of species. It, therefore, has been necessary in order to insure correct identification to consult original descriptions or to submit specimens to the expert.

The new manual is not in any sense a revision of Coulter's Manual. Professor Nelson has completely rewritten the book and assumes responsibility for any errors it may contain. He is well qualified for the task, having given in the neighborhood of twenty years of careful study to the flora of the Rocky Mountain region. He has had a large experience in the field; has gathered by his own efforts, and with the aid of his pupils, and by exchange, a splendid herbarium; and has familiarized himself with the original descriptions and checked these by an examination of the plants. No man to-day is more familiar with the vascular plants of the region than is Professor Nelson.

It is a satisfaction to find the book is neither ultra-radical nor strikingly conservative in taxonomy. Freedom from extremes

*Coulter, John M. Revised by Aven Nelson. Pp. 646. American Book Company, New York. 1909. $2.50.