on the eucalyptus blossoms, adds materially to the income; but these are admitted to be secondary considerations. The shade value is not inconsiderable, and the forest cover it affords must render an enormous service to the whole Southwest. These last considerations do not appeal to the farmers and wood-growers any more forcibly than in the rest of the country, unfortunately; and the "literature", therefore, emphasizes the high financial profits to be gained within a few years, through the incredibly rapid growth of many of the species. Pamphlets published by the state forestry department and by private commercial corporations include the following statements: 1. “E. globulus trees 175 feet in height and 5 or 6 feet in diameter have been produced here (California) in from twenty-four to thirty years. The single quality, rapidity of growth, entitles the eucalypts to serious consideration, for no other species can attain like dimensions in five times this period." 2. "The average growth of a ten-year-old eucalyptus, based on exhaustive measurements, is given as eleven inches in diameter and ninety-two feet in height." 3. "Under favorable conditions trees in seedling plantations have reached a maximum development of 5 inches in diameter and 67 feet in height in four years. This represents an average of 17 feet height growth per year, though a growth of 10 to 15 feet in height yearly is the general average." 4. "In the height of the first growing season seedlings have frequently been observed to make an average height growth of 6 inches a day. The most rapid seedling growth noted was made by a tree which in nine years reached a height of 125 feet and a diameter of 36 inches." 5. The actual size of a tree from the forests of the Eucalyptus Timber Corporation, which was planted April 20, 1908, and dug up August 5, 1909, was "131⁄2 feet in height, measured on the bole, and 1334 inches in circumference at the base; the main tap-root had penetrated to an actual depth of 161⁄2 feet below the surface of the soil." 6. "E. globulus eight to ten years old, if cut to the ground, will send up shoots that will reach a height of 75 or 100 feet, in from 6 to 8 years. The cutting may be repeated every few years for an indefinite period."

Californians are fond of quoting comparisons like the following

which is based upon tree measurements made in Kentucky by Mr. John B. Atkinson :

The above figures, which are probably somewhat biased, suggest however that in a short period the California wood famine. will cease to be an important problem. It will not help materially the greater part of the United States, of course, as the eucalypts thrive best where the temperature does not fall below 24°.

Except that the entire genus is rather intolerant of cold, and therefore is confined to those sections of the globe where favorable climatic conditions obtain, there seems to be no limit to the fitness of the eucalypts to any given soil or climatic conditions. Some thrive in swamp land; others in coastal situations or on high plateaus, hillsides, rocky lands, and even deserts. While the trees produce seeds freely, the seedlings do not "volunteer"; and the production of seedlings for commercial purposes is confined to regularly established nurseries devoted to that purpose. The trees reproduce, however, very rapidly from shoots springing from the stump of felled trees, and the second growth is much more rapid and as valuable as the first growth.

Facts like the above indicate not only large financial profits in the near future (seven to ten years) with very little outlay, for these trees need very little care after the first two years; but they also justify the optimistic claim that the "gap which is yawning between the supply which exists and the supply which will have to be provided" can be filled effectively at least in the Southwest - if we but recognize the possible uses of the eucalypts, and that prompt action in planting quantities of the more desirable eucalypts will postpone indefinitely the "lean years" close upon us.

SHORTER NOTES

THE ANDROPOGON-VIOLA UROMYCES. — A note has previously been published in TORREYA* on the probable identity of an Aecidium on Viola and of the Uromyces andropogonis Tracy on Andropogon virginicus L. This conclusion was reached after repeated observations and inoculations had been made in the field. Proof of their identity was obtained during the spring of 1909 by inoculating violet leaves, under control conditions, with teleutospores of the Uromyces. Seven days after the inoculations were made, spermogonia began to show on the violet leaves, followed by mature aecidia on the fifteenth day.

In reply to a letter to Professor J. C. Arthur, concerning the nomenclature of the rust, he states that "Tracy published his Uromyces andropogonis in 1893, while Cacoma (Aecidium) pedatatum Schw. dates from 1832." This being the case, the name of the rust becomes Uromyces pedatatus (Schw.) n. comb.

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY,

MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA

JOHN L. SHELDON

A NEW PONTHIEVA FROM THE BAHAMAS: Ponthieva Brittonæ sp. nov.

Aff. P. racemosa (Walt.) Mohr, sed in floribus minor et in racemo angustior. Radices elongatæ, flexuosæ, villosæ. Folia rosulata, oblongi-lanceolata vel oblanceolata, 4-10 cm. longa, 1.5–3.5 cm. lata, acuta ad basim in petiolum sulcatum 1-2.5 cm. longum contracta. Scapus teres, gracilis 26.5–37 cm. altus. Bractea oblongæ, acuminatæ, acutæ. Inflorescentia racemosa. Racemus, floribus 20-35, 1-1.8 dm. longus, circa 2 cm. in diametro, laxiflorus, pubescens. Bractea inflorescentiæ oblongæ, acuminatæ, valde acutæ, circa 5 mm. longæ. Pedicellus cum ovario 7-9 mm. longus. Sepala lateralia ovato-lanceolata, 4 mm. longa, 2 mm. lata. Sepalum dorsale oblongi-lanceolatum, obtusum. Petala lanceolata pauci-nervia, obtusa, 4.5 mm. longa. Labellum sub-saccatum, 4.5 mm. longum, 3-lobatum; lobi laterales rotundati; lobus medius oblongus, obtusus, I mm. longus, 0.5 mm. latus.

*Torreya 9: 54. 1909.

†This measurement applies to open flowers.

Ponthieva Brittonæ is very closely allied to P. racemosa from which it differs chiefly in its smaller flowers, slenderer raceme, and in its differently formed petals.

BAHAMAS, NEW PROVIDENCE: Maidenhead Coppice, February 7, 1905, E. G. Britton (no. 3297). Type in Hb. New York Botanical Garden; Co-type in Hb. Ames.

OAKES AMES

ANSWERS TO THE WISCONsin Riddle. In TORREYA for February, 1910, Mr. S. B. Parish asks for information as to certain plants referred to by Father Dablon in the Jesuit Relations as occurring on the Fox river in Wisconsin. Of course I cannot answer his query definitely but I suggest that the "kind of lime resembling that of France but having no bitter taste, not even in its rind" and which "slightly resembles the fern" may be the fruit of Podophyllum peltatum L. The shape and color of the fruit might suggest the lime, and the plant a remote resemblance to the brake. The identity of the second plant is more doubtful as there are so many "snake-roots", but Polygala Senega L., occurred to me in that connection.

RACINE, WISCONSIN

J. J. DAVIS

Dr. Roland M. Harper, referring to the "lime" mentioned in the February TORREYA says: "I read Mr. Parish's Wisconsin. riddle' with considerable interest, for there are a good many analogous cases in the southeastern states in the writings of Bartram and other early travelers. Although I have never been within several hundred miles of Wisconsin, I think I can suggest an answer to the first part of the riddle. There are said to be some species of Astragalus with fleshy (perhaps edible?) fruit out that way, and as the leaves in that genus are pinnate a comparison with a fern would not be very far-fetched." With reference to Podophyllum Dr. Harper says: "Podophyllum would be a pretty good guess for that Wisconsin plant, but for the fact that in the East it is a typical shade plant, and I could hardly think of it as growing on a prairie. But of course it may behave differently in the West, for all I know."

PROCEEDINGS OF THE CLUB

FEBRUARY 8, 1910

This meeting was held at the American Museum of Natural History. Dr. William Mansfield occupied the chair. Seventeen people were present.

The minutes of the last meeting, January 26, were read and approved.

The special committee for securing funds for the Tuesday evening lectures made a report.

Resignations were read and accepted from Miss Nellie P. Hewins and Mrs. Jane Condit Robison. The scientific paper of the evening was by Dr. P. A. Rydberg on "Flora of the Arctic Regions."

It was well illustrated by numerous mounted specimens collected on the later Peary expeditions.

The following abstract has been prepared by Dr. Rydberg: 'The two collections exhibited were made by Dr. Goodsell in 1908-9 and by Dr. Wolf in 1905-6, partly on Greenland, partly on Ellesmere Land, and partly in Labrador. As the last-mentioned locality belongs to the subarctic rather than the arctic regions, the plants from there were merely shown, but no description of the flora was given. It contained one new species of

umbellifers of which Dr. Rose of the U. S. National Museum has furnished a description.

"A general description of Greenland and Ellesmere Land was given. Greenland is an immense ice-covered plateau, rising on the east side to 10,000-11,000 feet and on the west side to 5,400 feet. Only a narrow strip along the coast and the small islands outside become bare in the summer, and here the meager flora is found. Ellesmere Land is lower. There is no continuous inland ice, although smaller icefields, snow-covered mountains, and glaciers are found.

"In accounts of the flora of Greenland and Ellesmere Land, one seldom finds any references to the altitude at which certain plants grow. There seems to be no difference between the flora at sealevel and that at an altitude of two thousand feet; the luxuriance