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The West-American Scientist. -

Voit. I.

San Diego, California, April, 1885, No. 35.

A popular review and record cB ate : Poor the Pacide (aaah { PUBLISHED Montuty By C. R. Orcorr. }

Entered as second-class mat ter at San Diego Post-office

NOTES ON CHORIZANTHE LASTAR- RLEA, PARRY.

BY ©. G PARRY.

In a recent examination of the early collections of Chorizanthe ete., in the old world herbaria,

some facts of general botanical |

interest were brought to view; most important of all being the types of Bentham’s original de- scriptions in establishing the sub- order Eriogoneew. Among these I was particularly interested in tracimg up the botanical history of Chorizantheno, Lastarriza, Par- ry (Lastarriza Chilensis, Gay). Owing to the inconspicuous char- acters of this otherwise well mark- ed species, in the older herbarium specimens, it was frequently in- advertently mixed with other species, and when properly separ- ated had received several unpub- lished generic names, being vari- ously referred to Paronychiacee, Tlecebracez, or Eriogone.

It was, however, fairly repre- sented by authentic specimens in all the early collections from Chili, South America, as far back as 1830, and by both Coulter and Nuttall, from Southern Califor- nia, 1832-36.

By Nuttall, whose complete specimens were collected at Santa Barbara in 1836, its diagnostic botanical characters were clearly determined, though not referred

to any natural order. In his specimens at the British Museum, the accompanying label marked with his usual * indicating a new genus, the following brief deserip- tion is given, (the original con- tracted Latin being translated), VIZ:

«* Ancistrophyllum Californi- cum. Annual; leaves 5, verticel- late; stem jointed, fragile; flowers sessile, dichotomous, calyx pris- matic, 5 cleft, uncinate, corolla none; stamens 2 — 3 ? ovary slen- der 3 angled, stigmata none. San- ta Barbara, Upper California.”

With still another Nuttallian specimen (probably on cursory examination) is the following label, viz:

“* Corrispermum spinulosum.”

Tn other fragmentary Nuttallian specimens in the Kew Herbarium, this species is mixed on the same sheet with Chorizanthe uncinata Nutt., and so referred in Ben- tham’s hand writing, followed also by Prof. Gray on another mixed sheet. In South American speci- mens in the Kew Herbarium, there is a similar confusion in the older collections, the following label accompanying one of the oldest, viz:

LIBRARIES

30

THE WEST-AMERICAN SCIENTIST.

eee

a

men the accompanying label is the following, viz. :

“No. 228 Guliemin, 1830,

Gen. Nov. Donatia? Ex. Gay.”

Even as late as D. ©. Prodro- mus, this plant is ineluded among the “Dubie” at the close of Eriog- ones. The natural inference from the above ascertained facts is that the obscure characters, and imper- fect knowledge of this species, up to a late, date prevented a clear understanding of its true syste- matic relatiois. With the publi- cation of Gay’s Fl. Chilensis, in which this plant is figured, and fully described under the name of Lastarriva Chilensis, Gay, and the subsequent elabor ation of Prof. Gray, and Bentham, its true place in the natural system is clearly de- termined.

In venturing to differ from the last named authorities as to its generic character, in referring it to a teduced form of Chorizanthe (Proeed. Day. Acad. Science, Vol. TV.,page 47). I was foreed to this view in an ehdeavor to systematize all the material in reference to this ae accumulated by extensive

eld observation, and access to all the available collections and de- scriptive works.

The main point of difference lies in the view taken of the floral organs, and as to whether the in- volucral appendage, or the per j- anth, is obsolete in this particular species. Noting, then, the marked persistence of the inv olucral char- acter ; on W hich, in fact, Bentham tnainly relied in establishing the sub-order Eriogoue ; and seeing no good and sufficient reason why the organ in this species, which

occupies the tice and has alk the morphological charaeters of a Chorizanthoid involuere, was not such in fact. An explanation wa- sought for the apparent absence of the internal perianth by refers ring it to a reduced form, as a lo-

bed ring in the throat of the invo-

luere, its tower part being adnate to the tube in a similar way, as the

stamineal whorl is not unfrequent-

ly adherent to the perianth, being

‘'earried on its inner face as an ob-

seure thread, as well as occasion-

ally reduced in number, from nine,

to six, or three. What very mate- rially helps to sustain this view, is the modification whieh the peri-

anth is plainly seen to undergo in

a regular series of reduction, be- ing traceable from several flowers to each involucre, peaieellate and partly exsert, as in Centrostegia seetion, gradually reduced to sin- gle flowers by partial or entire ob- soletion of the secondary ones, and still farther :n Euchorizanthe see- tion, becoming nearly or quite ses- sile and strictly uniflorous, show- ing also a more or less adnation of the stamens to the tube of the peri- anth, thus as it were foreshadow- ing what we actually find in Cho- rizanthe Lastarriva,viz: a blending of the perianth with the inyolu- cral tube. As serving still farther to confirm this view, it is possi- ble by careful dissection of well macerated young specimens to de- tach the adherent ring, extending as a membranous expansion lining the involucral tube just as in the analogous case of adherent sta- mens, the filament can frequently be separated as a continuous thread to the base of the perianth.

THE WEST- AMERICAN SCIENTIST.

31

es

Granting then what is unavoid- able, the lability to modification of the Chorizanthoid perianth in the way of reduction and partial obsoletion, coupled with the re- markable persistence of the invo- jucral characters, and the above view removes at once the anoma- lous features of the species, and fulfills all the desirable systematic conditions.

On the other hand, the previ- ously received view involves much more serious and insuperable dif- ficulties, placing this otherwise well characterized plant entirely out of analogy with all other allied Eriogonous genera in the entire ab- sence of an involucre, either in the usual form of a segmented whorl or as a simple bracteate floral appendage; assuming more- over that a perianth which in all other allied species has certain fixed characteristics, only subject to reduced modification of parts, but never of structure, can take the puzzling form of an ordinary involucre!

When such irreconcilable facts are once fairly placed by the side of a more natural and simple ex- planation, the question of choice cannot long remain doubtful.

Kew, England, November, 1884.

The Bulletin of the California Academy of Sciences, No. 3, Feb- ruary, 1885, has been received

and contains much of botanical | °°

interest from the pens of Rev. E. L. Greene, Mrs. Mary K. Curran, and H. W. Harkness, the latter on fungi. H. H. Behr contributes

to the literature on lepidoptera in | or

descriptions of new species, ete.

ee ——_ Sees

CONTEMPORARY JOURNALS.

The American Monthly Micro- scopical Journal, Romyn Hitch- eock, editor and publisher, Wash- ington, D. C., $1 per year, With this well adiablgtna periodical and the journal of the New York Microscopical Society, the micro- {scopist ean keep well posted on the news in the various depart- ments.

Mind in Nature, a_ popular monthly jeurnal of psychical, med- ical and scientific information, is announced to be published the first of every month, by the Cos- mic Publishing Company of Chi-

cago, at $1 per year. Its object is to furnish, in a popular man- ner, information regarding psych- ical questions, the relations of mind to the body, ete.

The Mining Review of Chicago, is the leading mining journal of the United States, published weekly at $3 per year.

Prof. W. G. Farlow delivered a very interesting popular lecture on marine alg, under the auspi- ces of the San Diego Society of Natural History, the evening of March 26.

Mr. Joseph Surr, recently of London, gave the fifth lecture of jthe course under the same auspi- to a large audience, the even- ing of March 30, on “A Walk in London.”

ee _ Qe This paper is usually issued on

near the fifteenth of each month.

32

THE WEST-AMERICAN SCIENTIST.

see

The West- American Sointist |" Cxtiborstae

AMONTHLY JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY Especially devoted to the Pacific Coast.

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SAN DIEGO, CAL., APRIL, 1885.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

We have adopted the rule of not italicizing seientific names, a custom of no real value, and of many disadvantages.

We would repeat that we wish to make this journal the represen- tative of the naturalists of western America, and we thank those who have given us their prompt sup- port. The Pacific coast is poor in active workers, and the few are scattered over a wide, undeveloped field, rich in the beauties of Na- ture. By co-operation the great work before them can be best per- formed.

It is going the rounds of news- papers that California ostrich eggs are only $120 per dozen; we may add that chiekens are held at $50 and hens at $1,000 each, while the eges are equal to two dozen com- mon hen’s eggs and weigh about three pounds apiece.

The Screnrist is mailed be- tween the fifteenth and twentieth of each month.

jand Oliver.

Dr. Asa Gray, and Professor W. G. Farlow, the distinguished sei- entists of Harvard College, who. are ‘at present visiting Southern California, were tendered a recep- tion by the Historical Society of Southern California at Los Ange- les on the evening of March 16. Kaeh of the distinguished guests responded to the Society’s greet- ing in an appropriate speech, and from Dr. Gray’s, we quote the

| following paragraph:

“That we have enjoyed your seenery, your climate and your hospitality, goes without saying. But beyond that, we have had the pleasure—peculiar to botanists— of meeting old friends, seen be- fore, only in altered guise—your flowers, many of which were be- fore familiar to us only in their dried form. These beautiful flow- ers of Southern California turn up their bright eyes tome as L pass, and say: ‘Don’t you know us ?” And I look down at this one for a moment and say: ‘Oh, yes, youre so and so. Menke diseovered you; or to that one, ‘Yes, your name is such and such. You were wrongly christened, and had to re-name you;’ or toa third, ‘Yes, [ know you—you are one of my own children, classified and named by myself ten or twenty or forty years ago, or perhaps only yesterday. And there is the fur- ther pleasure of meeting among you some of the correspondents whose work has been so valuable to me—as Messrs. Nevin, Lyon There are, too, the

THE WEST-AMERICAN SCIENTIST.

33

Parishes, of San Bernardino, who have done a remarakbly extensive work. It is to all these gentle- men that your Society may look to build up its natural history side. I trust they will prepare for the society a full herbarium of Southern California flowers. ‘I hope and anticipate that your so- ciety will do much for science.”

The address of Professor Far- low was of a more scientific na- ture treating of the diseases of fruit trees caused by fungi.

Dr. Gray, who is accompanied by his wife, and Professor Far- low, made a short stay at San Diego, returning north and visit- ing Santa Barbara and other places of interest in Southern Cal- ifornia.

GENERAL NOTES.

Rey. E. L. Greene is en route to Guadaloupe and Cerros Islands on a botanical survey of those places.

Dr. Asa Gray and wife, with Professor Farlow, made but a short stay atSan Diego, leaving for Santa Barbara and San Fran- cisco. They will probably return to the east in May.

The publisher of this paper, in company with the editor, and sey- eral others, is absent on another botanical expedition into the Cal- ifornian peninsula.

A pearl weighing 93 carats and valued at $17,000 has just been shipped from Guaymas, Mexico, for London. It was bought of an Indian for $90, and is believed to be the largest in existence.—Can- adian Science Monthly.

THE GEODE. MRS. Z. R. CRONYN

Before me lies a tiny crystal palace,

With doors forever closed, if so I choose, As fair within as any lily’s chalice

Where night has dropped its offering of dews

No footstep ever echoed through its arches,

No voice has rung through chamber or recess

The centuries have passed in long, slow marches,

And still this palace home is tenantless.

Ah! once the little fairies reveled gaily

On this old earth of ours, but now no more !

Man’s strange devices tear and ruin daily

The play-ground where the elvies trooped before.

Or else I might be sure some tiny creature, Beleaguered here, had walled herself within Where enemy nor clement could reach her, Self-separated from accusing kin.

Perhaps—who knows ? perhaps some pris- oned spirit,

Caught fast in one convulsive grasp of fate,

So still, that if we list we cannot hear it,

Has waited, through the ages, at the gate.

Then, shadow of unbound Prometheus, hover,

Above me as I break these prison bars !

And so—I break, and kneel as any lover

Beside these wondrous concaves full of stars.

Fair pillars are there, chastely hewn and beveled,

And colonvades aglitter in the light

And pavements, not like man’s—all square and leveled

But rugged with a thousand jewels bright.

A fitful irridescence quivers faintly

About the corridors «nd columns small And lo, in this recess so white, so saintly, I find the crucifix upon the wall.

34

THE WEST-AMERICAN SCIENTIST.

SOCIETIES.

The regular semi-monthly meet- ing of the San Francisco Micro- scopical Society, was held at the Society’s rooms, No. 120 Sutter St., on Wednesday evening, March 11, 1885. Sundry scientific peri- odicals were added to the files.

Dr. Selfridge exhibited an in-je teresting specimen of supposed meteoric origin. Its surface and outlines were more regular than is usually the case with meteor- ites, but it possessed one charac- teristic of those interesting bod- ies ina remarkable degree, viz: extreme hardness.

Dr.S. M. Mouser then exhibi- ted his newly acquired microtome or Section Cutter, of the celebra- ted “Thoma” pattern. It is ex- ceedingly elaborate in construc- tion, but consists essentially of a frame of cast iron, on which slide two carriers. A large and finely finished knife is clamped to one of these, which slides on a hori- zontal plane. The second carrier (which holds. the specimen to be cut) moves on an inclined surface.

Professor Thoma has based the construction of this microtome upon the principle (first theoreti- cally deduced, and then practi- cally demonstrated) that a body sliding between two inclined planes and touching the latter at five points only, will slide evenly and exactly over such planes even if they be not geometrically true. A knife attached to such a carrier will, therefore, always cut per- fectly parallel sections of an ob- ject which is elevated after each eut. Asa practical exemplifica- tion of the perfection with which

See ee ee ee ee Ss spc es een

the above principle has been work- ed out in the Thoma microtome, it may be stated that it permits the cutting of serial sections of well hardened animal tissues of certain kinds, as thin as .002 mm. (.00008 in. ), and even such a com- paratively coarse tissue as liver

ean, if well hardened, be cut to 01 mm. (.0004 in.) The ability to produce sections of such won- derful delicacy has given a great unpetus to histological and patho- logical research of late. .

Mr. Breckenfeld exhibited a “Graduated Blue Glass Modifier” which has just been brought out by the Bausch and Lomb Optical Company.

At the meeting of March 25, 1885, a valuable dcnation was re- ceived from Lieutenant Thos. L. Casey, U. 8S. A., consisting of three volumes of his ‘“Contribu- tions to Coleopterology,” just pub- lished.

D. J. N. Stallard of this city was nominated for resident mem- bership.

‘On the announcement that a new and much enlarged edition of Habirshaw’s rare and valuable “Catalogue of the Diatomacex” was about to be published, it was unanimously resolved to order a copy for the Society’s library.

A very interesting demonstra- tion of the capabilities of «a new opthalmoscope was given by its inventor, Mr. Louis A. Berteling.

He also exhibited the “Profes- sional” microscope, manufactured by the Bausch & Lomb Optical Co., and being the most elaborate form made by it. Nearly all the revolving parts are furnished with

THE WEST-AMERICAN SCIENTIST.

=

silvered graduations, the stage and sub-stage are provided with improved centreing adjustments, and its design is evidently the result of a successful attempt to produce an instrumentfully equal to the highest class of microsco- pical work.

Dr. C. P. Bates exhibited an ingenious and efficient “warm stage,” fer use in the study of “pure cultures” of Bacteria and similar minute organisms.

After an interesting informal discussion on the merits of the various exhibits, the meeting ad- journed.

peer? alt Ae

Tetracoceus disicus, Parry, un- fortunately secures the luxury of a synonym in Professor Watson’s T. Engelmanni, published only a few days later in contributions to American botany, XII, Proce. Am. Acad., Vol. XX.

G. W. Lichtenthaler, who has recently visited the Sandwich Is- lands, spent some time collecting at San Diego on his return to Bloomington, Il.

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