ness. The general management of the society is in the hands of an executive council of six members. Steps have already been taken towards the establishment of several divisions. The total membership of the society is two hundred and thirty-six.

L. D. Ames, of Columbia, presided at the meeting. The following officers were elected: President-H. C. Harvey, Kirksville. Vice-President-L. M. Defoe, Columbia. Secretary-L. D. Ames, Columbia.

Executive Council-E. R. Hedrick, Columbia (chairman); B. T. Chace, Kansas City; B. F. Finkel, Springfield; B. F. Johnston, Cape Girardeau; Wm. Schuyler, St. Louis; Miss E. J. Webster, Kansas City.

The monthly journal, School Science and Mathematics, was made the official organ of the society, and will be sent free to all members. The annual dues are one dollar and fifty cents.

Arrangements were made to send delegates to a conference to be held in connection with the National Educational Association, which met at Asbury Park, N. J., on July 7-11, 1905, looking towards the organization of a national society.

The following papers were read:

E. Y. BURTON, St. Charles Military Academy: 'Correlation of Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry and Trigonometry.'

WM. SCHUYLER, McKinley High School, St. Louis: An Experiment in Individual Instruction.'

GEO. R. DEAN, School of Mines, Rolla: 'A Method of Teaching Elementary Geometry.'

J. W. WITHERS, Yeatman High School, St. Louis: The Teaching of Mathematics in the High School.'

F. C. TOUTON, Central High School, Kansas City: Some Developments in Elementary Algebra.'

WM. A. LUBY, Central High School, Kansas City: The Teaching of Zero and Infinity in the High School.'

Abstracts of these papers will be published in School Science and Mathematics.

L. D. AMES.

THE TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB.

THE meeting of May 9 was held at the New York Botanical Garden, with President Rusby in the chair and 42 members and visitors present.

The meeting was devoted to the exhibition

and discussion of the various forms of Ameri

can violets. The discussion was opened by Dr. N. L. Britton, who spoke of the recent specific differentiations of various authors. He was of the opinion that many of these were doubtful and that while we had, perhaps, twice as many good species as were known in Gray's time, we only have about half as many good species as have been described. The speaker then gave a general sketch of the group, noting that while they are preeminently a north temperate cosmopolitan group they extended into the southern hemisphere along the highlands in both the orient and the occident. There is only a single endemic and one introduced species known from the West Indies. Mexico furnishes, perhaps, half a dozen species, and there are numerous species in the highlands of South America. Our violets fall naturally into two habit groups, the acaulescent and the stemmed. A rather common character is the occurrence of cleistogamic flowers, which are borne on horizontal or erect scapes according to the species. The speaker passed the various species in review, paying particular attention to those of eastern North America.

Stewardson Brown, of the Philadelphia Botanical Club, was called upon to review Dr. Britton's remarks. He said that in the main he agreed with Dr. Britton's views of specific validity. He called attention to a form from the vicinity of Philadelphia which Stone recently identified as Viola septemloba of LeConte of the palmata group, and which the speaker believed to be something different. Attention was also called to Viola obliqua, one of the earliest and most abundant violets in the Philadelphia region. The speaker described the sagittata-fimbriatula group as one of the most integrated and little understood of any of the groups of acaulescent blue violets.

Continuing the discussion, W. W. Eggleston mentioned the occurrence of what he believed to be a hybrid form. He also called attention to President Brainerd's methods of studying violets under cultivation and observing their fruit characters.

L. II. Lighthipe called attention to Viola

Angelli, holding it to be distinct from Viola palmata, the differences showing in the character of the flowers and of the summer leaves. Miss Angell, who was present, told of her studies of this species and called attention to the extraordinary size of the summer leaves. Dr. Rusby in the course of his remarks mentioned a very early form which is apparently the variety cordata of Viola cucullata of Gray. This form has been studied extensively by Miss Sanial, one of the club members.

Dr. Rydberg spoke of the violets of the Rocky Mountain region, passing in review the various species from that section and calling attention to the occurrence of the common European Viola biflora which reappears in Colorado.

Dr. Shull spoke of the difficulty he had experienced in germinating violet seeds, and in the discussion it was brought out that violet seeds are apt to lose their vitality upon drying.

Dr. MacDougal spoke of the difficulties attendant upon mutation experiments with the violets, and advocated experiments to test any possible theories as to hybrids.

After some further discussion by Dr. Britton and others this most interesting meeting was brought to a close.

EDWARD W. BERRY, Secretary.

THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO SCIENTIFIC
SOCIETY.

DURING the academic year 1904-5 the society met every Monday evening from October to May, holding in all thirty meetings. In nearly all cases a single topic was discussed at each session, but a few times there were two papers given. The speakers avoided technicalites as far as possible and presented their topics in such form as to be interesting to men of science generally. Papers were given, for the most part, by members of the faculty representing the various departments of pure and applied science. At the last meeting of the year, held on May 15, the following officers were elected:

President-Henry B. Dates.

Vice-President-Ira M. DeLong.

NEW WORK UPON WHEAT RUST.

FOR a number of years it has been the belief of the writer that the efficiency of the uredospores (summer spores) of wheat rust to perpetuate the disease is possibly much greater than thought to be. It has been assumed by most botanists that these spores are quick to germinate and short of life. As there are formed definite resting spores, and also the cluster cup stage on the barberry bush, it has been apparently taken for granted that the summer spores have no other effect than to rapidly spread the disease from plant to plant during the summer season.

It will be interesting news to mycologists to know that we have at last definitely established the fact of the wintering of the red spores (uredospores) of a number of the important rusts in viable form, including the important species Puccinia graminis.

During the winter of 1888 and 1889 the writer, while working at the Indiana Station, first demonstrated the fact that the mycelium of the uredo stage (red spore stage) of the species known as Puccinia rubigo-vera could pass the winter in the tissues of the wheat plant uninjured (see Agricultural Science, Vol. 3, page 105). During the summer of 1890 (see Agricultural Science, Vol. 5, Nos. 11 and 12) it was further proved that the red spores of this last-named species could survive exposure to the drying air and sunshine of July and August for over a month. This indicated that it was possible for such spores to be borne many miles by the wind, and aided to an understanding of the rapidity with which general rust infection may take place over large areas of country.

Aided by the persistent and painstaking efforts of assistant plant pathologist Mr. F. J. Pritchard, I have at last been able to make numerous trial studies upon methods of stor

ing and keeping wheat and other types of grass straw, which is infected by red rust, so as to carry out various studies upon the most successful methods of testing the vitality of the spores from week to week and from month to month. We are now able to announce definitely that the vitality of the red spores (uredospores) of Puccinia graminis, in certain cases, may remain unimpaired by the action of the drying winds of autumn and the intense cold of a North Dakota winter. some cases we have been able to germinate as high as eighty to ninety per cent. of all the spores under test. We have found these spores successfully surviving upon dead leaves, dead straw and upon the partially dead .or green leaves of living grain or grasses. This applies also to a number of other important rusts which attack wheat and allied grasses.

In

CONCERNING THE IDENTITY OF THE FUNGI CAUSING AN ANTHRACNOSE OF THE SWEET-PEA AND THE BITTER-ROT OF THE APPLE.

ABOUT a year ago I received some sweet-pea stems from Inwood, W. Va., with a request as to the cause of the plants dying. These stems had dead, shrunken areas on them with masses of pink spores scattered about over the dead areas. There were also a few spore masses on some of the leaves. An examination showed that the dead areas were probably caused by some species of Glæosporium, but no such fungus has been found as occurring on the

sweet-pea in the literature that I have had access to. I have called the disease an anthracnose on account of its resemblance to the anthracnoses of some other plants.

More material was secured at different times during the autumn, and it was my intention to make a personal investigation of the disease until after Mr. A. Lee Post became officially connected with the experiment station and a student in the university, when the problem was assigned to him under my direction. He began a study of the life history of the fungus by means of artificial cultures and inoculations. The results of the investigation, up to date, have been presented in the form of a thesis, and will probably be published later with slight alteration and the addition of new data.

While examining some of the agar cultures with Mr. Post, I noticed that there was an occasional cell of the mycelium that contained spores, the number of spores in the cells varying. To all appearances the endospores were the same as those borne externally on the hyphæ. This was the first time that I had seen endospores in the mycelium of a fungus other than those found in bacteria, and correspondence with some of the leading mycologists has failed to give me any definite light on the subject of endospore formation in the higher fungi.

The manner of growth of the mycelium and the way the conidia were produced were so characteristic of the bitter-rot fungus of the apple and the one causing the mummy disease of the guava, that Mr. Post made some inoculations in apple-agar and in apples. The result of the inoculations on apples was so similar to the bitter-rot of the apple that a number of mycologists have pronounced it genuine bitter-rot.

Through correspondence with the person who sent me the diseased sweet-pea stems, I learned that the sweet-peas grew near an apple tree, the fruit of which rotted. Just what kind of a rot it was will be determined this fall if possible. This rotting of the apples on the tree near the sweet-peas, suggested the possible identity of the anthracnose of the sweet-pea and bitter-rot of the apple. To prove

whether they are, or are not, the same, I let Mr. Post have some specimens of bitter-rot and of the ripe-rot of the grape collected at least two hundred miles from where the sweetpeas grew. Seedling sweet-peas, inoculated with spores from these two sources, were killed at the point of infection in the same way that the original sweet-pea stems were killed, and other seedlings which were inoculated with pure cultures of the fungus causing the anthracnose of the sweet-pea.

It would seem, then, from the results obtained, as if the bitter-rot of the apple, the ripe-rot of the grape and the anthracnose of the sweet-pea are caused by the same fungus. A stage corresponding to the ascigerous stage of the bitter-rot has not been obtained yet in artificial cultures.

JOHN L. SHELDON. WEST VIRGINIA AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, MORGANTOWN, W. Va.,

June 19, 1905.

INDICATIONS OF AN ENTOMOPHILOUS HABIT IN

TERTIARY SPECIES OF QUERCUS.

THE Occasional development of several embryos in the fruits of recent species of Quercus is of interest as suggesting an entomophilous habit in the flowers of the Tertiary species of this genus.

At present normally five of the six ovules in the three-celled ovary atrophy, and the one remaining forms later a perfect embryo which fills the entire cavity of the nut. But it not infrequently happens that two embryos develop, each with cotyledons, plumule and caulicle. Experiments made by the writer show that both embryos will grow, and the twin oaks were kept until they reached a foot or more in height. Several cases were found by the writer in which three perfect embryos occurred in acorns of the chestnut oak, Quercus prinus. All germinated nearly equally well. Finally a single case was found in which there were four perfect embryos. This also was an acorn of the chestnut oak, which develops several embryos more readily than Q. alba, rubra or tinctoria.

Quercus, but I have not found any record of three or of four perfect embryos occurring in this genus.

The normal abortion of five ovules and reduction to one embryo seems to be an acquired character, and in the development of several embryos appears to be a reversion to an ancestral condition.

Now, it is well known that the formation of several or many embryos is characteristic of entomophilous flowers, but very rare among anemophilous.

This suggests that the oaks of the Greenland Tertiary flora were entomophilous, that their flowers were more conspicuous, and that their fruits normally developed several embryos. With the oncoming of the ice sheet the oaks moved very slowly southward because of the inadaptability of the fruit for wide dispersal. Deserted by the insects seeking the warmth farther south, the oaks may then have adopted their present anemophilous habit.

Paleobotany so far can give no evidence either for or against this theory, but later studies of the Tertiary floras may strengthen the indication now furnished by the development of two, three and four embryos in cases of reversion in Quercus prinus.

C. J. MAURY.

BATHYGNATHUS BOREALIS, LEIDY, AND THE PERMIAN OF PRINCE EDWARDS ISLAND.

A FEW days ago I had occasion to examine the figure of Bathygnathus published by Leidy in his original description (Jour. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phila. (2), 11, pp. 327-330, pl. XXXIII.) and became convinced that it was not a dinosaur, as has been long supposed, but one of the most specialized of the pelycosaurs, such as occurs in the Texas region, probably a Dimetrodon or Naosaurus. I communicated with Dr. Lambe, of the Canadian Survey, indicating my belief that this settled the question of the possible occurrence of Triassic deposits in Prince Edwards Island. Almost all of the geologists of the Canadian Survey who have worked on the island have considered the rocks as Permo-carboniferous and have

admitted the possibility of Triassic rocks in the neighborhood of New London only because Bathygnathus was found there and was considered as a Triassic dinosaur. Hardly had the letter been posted when I received from Dr. von Huehne his paper on the 'Pelycosaurier im Deutschen Muschelkalk' (N. Jahrb. f. M. G. u. P. Beilage, Band XX., p. 343), in which he arrives at exactly the same conclusion as to the nature of the fossil and the age of the beds. Aside from settling the age of the beds of Prince Edwards Island the discovery is of interest in extending the range of these forms which have previously been known from Texas, Vermillion County, Ill., and Bohemia. It is interesting also to note, as pointed out by von Huehne, that Owen in the Q. J. G. S., 1876, pointed out that Bathygnathus was probably related to the theriodonts. This suggestion has been disregarded in favor of the dinosaurian nature of the fossil and has so kept alive the error in the age of the beds. E. C. CASE.

A SYSTEM FOR FILING PAMPHLETS.

No system for filing pamphlets will meet the requirements of all workers, but a plan that I have used for some years has proved so satisfactory and met with the approval of so many of my friends that I venture to present a brief outline of it, in order that others may perhaps be benefited. I make no claim for originality except, perhaps, in the size of the boxes.

I use pasteboard boxes very much like those used by the Book Lovers' Library to protect its volumes, ten and one half inches high, seven and one fourth inches deep and one inch thick, the back or edge nearest the wall, as they stand on the shelf, being open.* Each box holds only a small number of pamphlets, and therein lies the chief advantage, as the small boxes facilitate a great subdivision of subjects.

*

In my series of 'Birds, geographic,' for instance, I have a box for faunal papers for every state in the United States and for some states several boxes, the subdivision in these cases being by authors. Every faunal bird

* Made by Jesse Jones Paper Box Co., 715 Commerce St., Philadelphia, at $3.50 per hundred.

paper is marked in the corner 'Bg,' followed by a number indicating a country, the United States being, for instance, 4, with each state designated by a decimal number, so that a Pennsylvania faunal bird list would be marked 'Bg 4.9,' the Pennsylvania box bears this label on the back and also one inscribed 'Birds of Pennsylvania.'

I have then a card catalogue of all my separata, etc., arranged by authors with a reference to the box number. It is thus possible to take from the shelf at once all the papers relative to a given subject or by the card list to locate any paper that may not be where I expected to find it or to see if I have a paper by a certain author.

In the case of a composite paper it may be arranged where most frequently sought and a cross reference be entered on a stiff sheet of octavo paper placed in the other box where it might be arranged. In fact, a sheet like this in every box with cross reference titles is of great convenience.

Bound volumes may be arranged in their proper place on the shelves and catalogued just like the pamphlets.

This system permits of endless variations in the method of classification. For my ornithological series I have the following divisions:

Ba, anatomy; Bb, bibliography; c, classification; d, destruction and extinction; e, economic ornithology; f, food; g, geographic lists; h, hybrid, albinos, etc.; 1, museum catalogues; m, molt and pterylography; n, migration; o, nests and eggs; s, systematic monographs, etc.; v, song. Bg and Bs are, of course, the large series, the others occupying only two or three boxes each.

The arrangement of pamphlets relating to so broad a subject as ornithology, by authors, is almost useless, as it is impossible to remember all who have written, for instance, on the birds of Pennsylvania. My plan gives you all these papers together on the shelf without consulting the card list, while if the arrangement by authors is needed the cards furnish it. WITMER STONE.

ACADEMY NATURAL SCIENCES,

PHILADELPHIA.