PLANT SCIENCE BULLETIN

A Publication of the Botanical Society of America, Inc.

VOLUME 7   DECEMBER 1961   NUMBER 4

Graduate Students in Botany

ERNEST L. STOVER

Eastern Illinois University

After reading the articles by Professor Bamford and Professor Cleland on Graduate Education in Botany in the Plant Science Bulletin of February of 1961, I have decided to write of our experience with majors in Botany throughout the past thirty-six years.

Showing students that the science of Botany in its various phases can lead to and become a very satisfactory career should begin in the first two years of college and can and has begun in the secondary schools or before. The responsibility for informing our students and showing them the way to a profitable and absorbing life is the responsibility of the teachers in the beginning college courses.

The relatively small number of students that choose Botany as their major subject are largely interested in the field by a good teacher, not by the so-called "guidance counselors."

I believe that the results of the work of the Botany Department at the Eastern Illinois University, indicate that good students can be shown that a career in Botany is worth while and becomes a life of many satisfactions.

This college had 1365 students in 1940; 1369 in 1950; 1919 in 1955; and 2779 in 196o. During these years the Department of Botany had the following number of under-graduate Botany majors; 1940—19; 1950—25; 1955—40; and 1960-30. For the last eleven years, the Department has averaged thirty-two undergraduate Botany majors each year.

All of these students were required to have three years of Botany, two years of Zoology, at least a year's work in Chemistry, and a course in Geology. Most of the majors have four years of Botany by graduation time in addition to the required courses in the Social Sciences, humanities and education, plus a minor in some other field. Courses in education are required of those planning to teach for this has been a teachers college primarily throughout its history, however, the A.B. and B.S. degrees are now offered. All students in the teacher training program do three or four quarters of student teaching in the secondary school.

This Department of Botany has had a good number of its students continue in graduate work in the graduate schools of our colleges and universities.

To date, twenty-eight have received the doctorate (twenty-three since 1930) and currently nine more are working toward the doctorate. To date, eighty of our graduates have been granted a master's degree. Forty-nine of our students have had or now have graduate assistantships or fellowships in the graduate colleges.

Before 1930 the majority of the Botany majors came from the high schools where Botany and Zoology were taught as separate courses, either as half year or full year courses. Since 1930 the majors in Botany have mostly come from our first year's work in college Botany. There are several reasons for their decisions to become Botany majors.

The Department has always considered the first year's work in Botany as the most important course or courses of the whole curriculum. It has been taught through the years as (1) a laboratory science for any student as his year of science required by the college; (2) a laboratory science for any student who does not expect to take any more work in the sciences; (3) the beginning year's work in Botany for the students who decide to acquire either a minor or a major sequence in Botany (a minor is two years of work); (4) the beginning year's work for the majors and minors who expect to teach in the secondary schools; (5) the beginning year's work for the majors who decide to continue in graduate work in the field of Botany or some phase of Botany such as Forestry, Agriculture, Agronomy or Horticulture.

That the first year's work in Botany in this school has functioned in this way is evident from the positions our graduates now hold. Many are teaching in high schools and junior high schools with only the Bachelor's degree. Many more are teaching in high schools who have earned a master's degree, and some in colleges. Of those who have earned the doctorate, nine are primarily in research positions and nineteen are teaching in our universities with the ranks of assistant, associate or full professorships. This school did not have two thousand students until 1956 and during the war years had fewer than five hundred students.

The administration and organization of the first year's work, by a dedicated staff, accounts for the success of our programs through the years.

First, only full time staff members teach the beginning work and every member of the staff teaches one or more sections at least for a part of the year. This means that no student assistants are ever in charge of a class. Every teacher is convinced that this year's work is the most important work of the department.

(Continued on page 2)

PAGE TWO

PLANT SCIENCE BULLETIN

SYDNEY S. GREENFIELD, Editor Rutgers—The State University 40 Rector Street, Newark 2, New Jersey

EDITORIAL BOARD

HARLAN P. BANKS   Cornell University

NoRMAN H. BOKE   University of Oklahoma

ELSIE QUARTERMAN    Vanderbilt University

ERICH STEINER    University of Michigan

DECEMBER, 1961   •   VOLUME 7, NO. 4

CHANGES OF ADDRESS: Notify the Treasurer of the Botanical Society of America, Inc., Dr. A. J. Sharp, Department of Botany, University of Tennessee, Knoxville t6, Tennessee.

SUBSCRIPTIONS for Libraries and persons not members of the Botanical Society are obtainable at the rate of $2.00 a year. Send orders with checks payable to "Botanical Society of America, Inc." to the Business Manager, Dr. Lawrence f. Crockett, Department of Biology. The City College, Convent Avenue and 139th Street, New York 31, New York.

MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR PUBLICATION should be typewritten, double-spaced, and sent in duplicate to the Editor.

Graduate Students in Botany

(Continued from page I)

Second, this year's work is taught entirely by the laboratory discussion method. There are no lecture sections. Each section of students has one teacher throughout a given quarter.

Third, abundant materials are always present in the laboratory. Each student is well supplied with fresh plant materials when it is possible to have living plants. Each student has a good microscope (in good condition), a good light for his use, and dissecting equipment. There are many charts, Kodachromes, and lantern slides available for the use of the instructors to supplement the living plant specimens the students have at their desks.

Fourth, the first quarter's work begins with plants as plants and a study of plants out of doors. These students know they are studying Botany with the first hour of work. The study of trees out of doors is primarily to give the students the opportunity of learning similarities and differences, for, the ability to classify things and ideas is fundamental for good learning. They also learn to identify trees.

The rest of the first quarter is the physiology and ecology of the green plants with enough anatomy of leaves, stems, and roots to understand where the physiological processes occur. This is taught in such a definite sequence that the students see and recognize that the work is in a sequential order.

Fifth, the second quarter's work is the reproduction of plants taught in the same manner as the first quarter by the laboratory discussion method and no formal lectures. The teacher works with the class as a whole, giving as much individual help as possible.

After a study of the reproduction of green plants and fungi is accomplished, a survey of the great groups of green plants completes the work of the second quarter.

Sixth, the spring quarter's work is the geographic ecology of plants, the identification of woody plants in winter followed by a study of the local flora as the spring plants begin to grow. When the season permits this includes all of the groups of green plants with special emphasis upon the families and genera of flowering plants as the season advances.

Seventh, this year's work in Botany introduces the students to all phases of plant study except paleobotany. This gives the students a chance to decide whether he continues in a minor or major sequence in the department.

This current year there are eight sections of the first year's course. There are thirty in a major sequence and fifty-one students in minor sequences (two year's work). With the experience of past years, we can reasonably assume that some of these students will continue in graduate work in Botany.

We are convinced that we have done our share toward recruitment of students for graduate work in Botany. We are also convinced that any school can do the same and especially the universities if the departments come to realize that:

Botany is the one science that contributes to the every day living of every student throughout their lives.

2. That Botany as such is the basic science for agriculture, plant pathology, forestry, horticulture, bacteriology and/or microbiology, genetics, ecology, conservation, industrial applications and even zoology and human physiology.

3. Botany must be taught by superior teachers who are well trained in both botany and the art of teaching. Many present first year courses are relegated to the inexperienced or least able teachers in the department. Too many of our college and university teachers want to teach only advanced courses and regard beginning botany as a necessary evil rather than as the greatest challenge for good teaching of all the courses in the department. It is in the beginning courses that the student body of a department is built. It is here that some of the students are persuaded that botany should become their major sequence in the college training.

If the first courses in Botany are administered and planned as described above and the advanced courses planned in sequence so that students realize that they are growing, it is my conviction that the number of graduate students in Botany will increase.

It is important that the total offering of a given department be planned as a whole with a definite sequence of courses so that the undergraduate and graduate students get a broad and well-planned training in Botany.

That this is possible for the undergraduate college we have demonstrated throughout the years. Twenty colleges and universities have granted graduate degrees to our stu-

PAGE THREE

eats. Thirty-one of our graduates have taught or are now eaching in colleges and universities.

This year there are nine more students from this departnent working toward the doctorate.

REFERENCES

STOVER, E. L., "The Need for More Than Adequate Training for Science Teachers." The Illinois Teacher. May, 1935.

TWIT, H. F. and STOVER, E. L., "College Grades in the Biological Sciences as Related to Secondary School Training." Trans. Ill. Acad. Science. Vol. 31, 1938.

STOVER, E. L., and GILBERT, W. M., "The Objective Results of Different Teaching Methods in General Botany." Educational Administration and Supervision. Vol. 3r, 1945.

STOVER, E. L., "The Men of Agriculture, Our First Citizens." School and Society. Vol. 65, 1947.

STovcR, E, L., "Mark Hopkins and the Modern Log." Trans. Ill. Acad. of Science. Vol. 41, 1948.

New Corresponding Members

As reported in the October issue of PLANT SCIENCE BuLLETIN, at the annual business meeting of the Botanical Society of America on August 28, 1961, nine distinguished botanists were elected Corresponding Members of the Society. The By-Laws of the Society provide that "Corresponding members shall be chosen from authors of important contributions to the science of botany." Nominations are made by the Council which receives recommendations with credentials from members. Election occurs at the business meeting of the Society. The number of Corresponding Members is limited to forty. With the new members, the Society has thirty-nine. They receive the publications of the Society and have all other privileges of active member-ship free for the rest of their lives.

The following are the nominating statements for the new members. The names of previously elected Corresponding Members are listed in the most recent yearbook of the Society.

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ERWIN BUNNING

Dr. Erwin Banning has recently come into prominence for his outstanding work on endogenous cycles in plants. This is a field in which he did pioneer work in 1930, using the so-called "sleep movements" of leaves. At the Cold Spring Harbor Symposium last year on Endogenous Rhythms he was selected to give the opening address. In 1958 he published a valuable monograph "Die Physiologische Uhr" on this topic.

However, Dr. Bunning is a very well-rounded botanist who has made notable contributions in several areas of botany and plant physiology. His work on phototropism of Avena and Phycomyces is classical, and has more recently been extended to phototaxis. He has made most interesting contributions to the study of differentiation, especially in the formation of hairs and stomata, and has introduced the concept of localized meristem fragments or "meristemoids." Still earlier he did valuable work in the early development of growth substances. He has written an interesting small book on Tropical Forests.

DAVID CATCHESIDE

Dr. David Catcheside is one of the outstanding English geneticists. For a number of years he held the first Chair of Genetics in Adelaide, Australia, and is now Professor in Birmingham, England. He is well known for work on Oenothera, Drosophila and on Neurospora, in which last he has brought to light some interesting biochemical mutants. His studies of chromosome breakage by X rays, carried out partly in collaboration with D. E. Lea, from 1938 to 1945, are classic contributions. His book on The Genetics of Microorganisms (1951) is of admirable clarity yet very inclusive. In recent years he has turned his attention to the phenomenon of complementation, which occurs when two alleles are present in heterokaryons of Neurospora.

MICHAEL EVENARI

Dr. Michael Evenari is Professor of Botany at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Trained in Germany, he was an early and enthusiastic pioneer of scientific work in the then new country of Israel, and was publishing research on seed germination and growth inhibitors in the years just before the war. He is well known for his studies of the effects of light and chemicals on seed germination. He has also carried on important work on the ecology of desert plants. Of late he has become interested also in archaeology. For many years he has served as Vice President of the Hebrew University.

ALBERT FREY-WYSSLING

Dr. Albert Frey-Wyssling is one of the most versatile botanists of our time. He has pioneered and left his mark in a remarkable number of fields. His early studies concerned the crystal structure of plant cell inclusions, which studies were soon extended to the microscopic, sub-microscopic and electron-microscopic structure of the cell wall. This work is actively continuing.

During his years in the tropics, where he was connected with the AVROS in Sumatra, his interest in rubber formation and translocation developed. Through his several books he has exerted a very great influence on the development of modern botany, especially on the relations between microscopic structure and physiological function.

Since 1936 he has been a Professor of Botany at the Swiss National Technical College (E. T. H.) in Zurich.

PAGE FOUR

ROGER HEIM

Dr. Roger Heim is the most distinguished of French mycologists and the author of many mycological publications. During the last few years he has become much interested in the problem of hallucinogenic fungi and has published many papers and at least one book in this area. He is a broad-gauge scientist in that in addition to the taxonomy of the fungi concerned he has gone into the biochemistry, pharmacology, and physiology of the compounds produced by the fungi and their effects on experimental animals, including humans. His administrative responsibilities include the directorship of the cryptogamic section of the Museum of Natural History in Paris.

ERIC HULTEN

Dr. Eric Hultēn was born March 18, 1894, at Halla, in the province of Sōdermanland, Sweden. He entered the University of Stockholm in 1913, and received the M.A. degree in 1919. In 1931, he became director of the herbarium of the University of Lund, where in 1937 he received his Sc. D. and became assistant professor. In 1945 he was named professor and director of the Department of Botany of the Riksmuseet in Stockholm.

Dr. Hulten's botanical expeditions are legendary—to Kamchatka in 1920-22, in eastern Russia and the Kola Peninsula in 1927, to Mexico, Alaska and the Aleutian Islands in 1931-32. He has also done extensive botanical field work in the mountains of Europe and in Teneriffe. His publications are numerous. His six books on plant distribution and floristics are essential and standard references for any worker in these fields. Their titles are: "Flora of Kamchatka and the adjacent Islands" (1135 pages; 790 maps), "Outline of the history of Arctic and Boreal biota during the Quaternary period" (168 pages; 43 maps), "Flora of the Aleutian Islands" (397 pages; 477 maps), "Flora of Alaska and Yukon" (1902 pages; 1280 maps), "Atlas of the distribution of plants in NW. Europe" (512 pages; 1847 maps), and "The Amphi-Atlantic plants and their phytogeographical connections" (340 pages; 279 maps). Dr. Hultēn is still working actively and has renewed his research in the field in Alaska. His volumes on the Aleutian Islands and on Alaska are classics. His continuing work in Alaska is timely and brings him further into the sphere of interest of American botanists.

HIROSHI TAMIYA

Dr. Hiroshi Tamiya, Professor at the University of Tokyo and Director of the Tokugawa Institute for Biological Re-search, is doubtless Japan's leading Plant Physiologist. Most of his work has been on the general physiology of photo-synthesis in Chlorella, which he has studied for more than 25 years. Among very numerous studies, one of the most important was his 1959 extension and development of the work of Emerson et al. on the intermittent light effect, and pioneer work on the use of ols in photosynthesis. In 1943 he published a monograph on The Mechanism of Photo-synthesis (in Japanese). He has also made contributions to the study of catalase and to the theory of osmosis and turgor pressure. Recently he and his large group of students and co-workers have turned their attention to the life cycle of Chlorella, and the conditions controlling its cell-division. He has also done much basic work towards the development of mass cultures of algae for food. Members of his Institute have for several years been making important contributions to various aspects of plant physiology and biochemistry.

C. G. G. J. VAN STEENIS

Dr. Cornelis Gijsbert Gerrit Jan Van Steenis was born October 31, 1901, in Utrecht, Netherlands. Ne obtained his Ph.D. in 1927. At present he is the Director of the Flora Malesiana Foundation in the Royal Herbarium in Leiden. He is Coeditor of Reinwardtia, which is a continuation of the Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de Buitenzorg. He is a members of the Managing Board of the International Association for Plant Taxonomy and a member of the International Association for Plant Taxonomy. Probably his largest administrative responsibility is the editorship of Flora Malesiana.

Dr. Van Steenis has been a productive and highly regarded professional taxonomist and has published extensively. His vegetation map of Malaysia published by UNESCO in 1958 is a very important contribution. At the IX International Botanical Congress in Montreal in 1959 he was awarded the degree of D.Sc. (honorary award) by the University of Montreal, and he has received many other honors of various kinds.

FRANS VERDOORN

Dr. Frans Verdoorn has earned the gratitude of botanists all over the world through his untiring efforts in the fields of international cooperation, the history of Botany and the publication of so many important books through his "Chronica Botanica." In his early years before his historical studies and his editorial work took all of his time and almost limit-less energy, his research work on the tropical liverworts resulted in a large number of publications. His training and early work took place in Holland. From 1937 until 1957 he lived in Waltham, Massachusetts, where he carried on his editorial work and his historical studies. In 1948-49, he was the first Director of the recently established Los Angeles State and County Arboretum in Arcadia, and the general planning for this Arboretum was done by him. In 1957 he moved back to the Netherlands, where he organized the Bio-historical Institute of the University of Utrecht, and where he became Professor of the History of Botany.

PAGE FIVE

On the use of the Fossil Record in Teaching Elementary Botany

HARLAN P. BANKS

Cornell University

Some teachers prefer to include all the information about a particular group of plants in a single unit when teaching about that group. This means including the fossil record of each group as it is studied. Admittedly the technique is convenient but it does tend to increase the amount of detail that confronts the students. As an alternative we now devote one week out of a year course solely to paleobotany. Our second term, begins with mitosis, meiosis, and genetics in order to introduce variation and the physical basis of evolutionary change. The plant groups then follow and it is assumed that students become familiar with the major characteristics of each group studied. The work on paleobotany follows this review of the plant kingdom.

In the laboratory on paleobotany, specimens are selected for the clarity with which they illustrate major characteristics of the several plant groups. The students are expected to determine the group to which each belongs on the basis of visible characteristics. Occasionally it is necessary to supplement the specimen by adding some information on the accompanying label. The more specimens one has avail-able the better, but in the absence of actual specimens one can substitute illustrations or even descriptions. If presented successfully, students understand the challenge involved in the application of knowledge to the interpretation of new materials. It seems to me that this approach permits the student to ask, and answer, some "why" and "how do you know" questions and provides the necessary motivation for the recall of information. Thus paleobotany is used as an opportunity to investigate and not as one more subdivision of Botany, or as a mass of additional detail.

If the material used in the laboratory on fossil plants is suitably labeled, the students can conclude from their own records that there have been four major evolutionary "levels" in the past history of the plant kingdom. They can also see that this history more or less parallels the supposed increase in specialization to which they were introduced when studying the living representatives of the same groups. It is much more difficult to make this evolutionary progression clear when fossil histories are buried among the individual groups.

From Pre-Cambrian through Silurian time non-vascular plants predominated. The direct evidence for Pre-Cambrian life has been much enhanced by the report of petrified fungi and blue green algae by Tyler and Barghoorn (1954). The deposit in which these plants occur is now dated at 1.6 billion years according to Barghoorn, and the plants can be regarded as the oldest that have been found to date.

Vascular plants appeared in late Silurian time in the form of psilopsids and lycopsids. Ferns arose in the Devonian. Lower vascular plants probably dominated the vegetation through Carboniferous time.

Gymnosperms dominated the landscape through the Mesozoic era although of course the group was represented even earlier, e.g. the seed ferns in Carboniferous time.

Angiosperms began taking over during the Cretaceous Period and have been dominant throughout Tertiary and Quarternary.

The above account is of course extremely generalized but it is important not to bog down in so many details that the objective is lost. The lectures accompanying this laboratory work can point out additional features such as the manner in which the fossil record supports the concept of evolution. One can, if desired, utilize the splendid reconstructions in "The World We Live In" published by the editors of LIFE, 1955• Parts V and VI of this book illustrate the 4 levels of evolution mentioned above. One may, in addition, produce a variety of individual illustrations by cutting and mounting separately the film strips that can be purchased from LIFE. Interesting landscapes depicting the vegetation of the various periods are also available in Augusta.

A related aspect of the work with fossils is the demonstration that a good teacher is irreplaceable. As anyone with experience can easily recognize, the majority of students need the stimulus of a good teacher in order to profit from this exercise. Lacking the teacher they can wander aimlessly and argue that the whole exercise is meaningless.

Augusta, J. and Zdenak Burian, Prehistoric Animals. Spring Books. London.

S. A. Tyler and Else S. Barghoorn. Occurrence of structurally preserved plants in Pre-Cambrian rocks of the Canadian Shield. Science 119:6o6-6o8. 1954.

COMMENT

The following letter, dated May 15, 1961, was received by the Editor. It is reproduced here in the hope that it will stimulate further discussion of an important problem, and perhaps, constructive suggestions on the part of professional botanists.

"I have read with interest your Plant Science Bulletin for May, 196r. As a member of A.I.B.S. for many years I have followed quite closely the botanical areas of study in our high schools.

1 have observed that the tendency of biology teachers is to prepare in the field of zoology and anatomy, thus botany is neglected, resulting in future biologists whose interests are in zoology.

I have repeatedly mentioned this weakness in most college biological curricula, but it is apparent I am not qualified by college teachers to be worthy of an opinion.

PAGE SIX

If a survey were made of the biology teachers in the nation's high schools, it would reveal an overwhelming preparation in zoology with decided weakness in botany and genetics. Standardized tests are nearly devoid of botanical questions heavy in zoology and human physiology.

I have recently completed a NDEA sponsored course in Biology at Bucknell University which was attended by twenty-seven area biology teachers. When I set up the criteria for the course I made out a list of twenty topics to be discussed at the selection of the class. Ten were in Botany, ten in Zoology. When asked to select ten for discussion, all of the zoology questions were chosen with only a few votes for any botanical area. Why? Because every one of those teachers were Zoologists; aside from bacteriology and genetics, they were interested primarily in zoology.

I feel this situation is typical of most biology teachers as evidenced by biological entries in our science fairs. I have just returned from the National Science Fair in Kansas City, where, aside from bacteriology, the biological projects were predominately zoological in nature.

It would appear to me that if and when any committees are formed to create interest in botany, a few biology teachers might be appointed whose background is in botany. As I see it too many college botanists "can't see the scenery for the plants" as far as biological preparation for high school teaching is concerned.

I shall be at Yale next winter on a Hay Fellowship. where I hope to further observe this trend in biological preparation in the New England area.

I hope this is food for thought by your organization as it is vital to all students that they have adequate instruction in botany. To me it's importance is equal to zoology, as the world's disease problens, food problems, and man's existence can well be dependent on the ever broadening aspects of chemistry and genetics in the field of botany.

The future botanists of our colleges must be born in high school biology courses; devoid of an enthusiastic botanical presentation, they will die before any true metamorphosis can begin.

Sincerely,

THOMAS R. MANLEY

Chairman—Biology Department Selinsgrove Area Joint Schools Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania

MEETINGS

Summer Field Meetings of the Northeastern Section of the Botanical Society of America have been scheduled tentatively for June 17 through 20, 1962 at the University of Delaware, with Dr. G. Fred Somers as Chairman.

The third Annual Meeting of The Society For Economic Botany will be held on Saturday and Sunday, June 16 and 17, 1962 in the Washington, D.C. area. For details contact Dr. Quentin Jones, New Crops Research Branch Plant Industry Station, Beltsville, Maryland.

DR. J. B. HILL

Dr. J. Ben Hill, emeritus professor of botany of the Pennsylvania State University, died in the Centre County Hospital on March 31, after a long illness.

Dr. Hill was born in Lebanon, Ill., December 12, 1879, but spent most of his early years in Columbia, Missouri.

In 1908 he received his bachelor of science degree from the University of Missouri and then attended Cornell University, receiving his bachelor of arts degree in 1909. He came to Penn State in 1909 as an instructor of botany and, while on leave, attended the University of Chicago where he earned his doctor of philosophy degree in plant morphology in 1913.

He was promoted to an assistant professorship at Penn State in 1913, to an associate professorship in 1915, and to a full professorship in 1920.

During 1925-26, he was acting head of his department. In 1949 he retired as emeritus professor of botany and immediately accepted a position as visiting professor of botany at the University of Miami in Florida, where he stayed until 1952.

Dr. Hill was an outstanding teacher of botany and genetics and was highly esteemed by both students and faculty. For many years he conducted research on species hybrids in Digitalis. He made outstanding contributions to the anatomy and morphology of Lycopodium and to the migration of bacteria in plant tissues.

In 1936, he, with Dr. L. O. Overholts and Dr. H. W. Popp, published the first edition of "Botany, a Textbook for Colleges." This textbook was widely adopted by colleges and universities in the United States and foreign countries. It was revised in 1950 and again in 196o.

Dr. Hill and Mrs. Hill published the textbook, "Genetics and Human Heredity," in 1955. This book represented the outgrowth of more than 35 years of teaching experience in this field.

His popular writings on gardening appeared in the New York Times and recently in the Centre Daily Times of State College, Pa., in a column called "Hints on Gardeni ng."

Dr. Hill was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Botanical Society of America, the Genetics Society, and a charter member of the Pennsylvania Academy of Science. He was a lieutenant in the infantry during World War I. He was also a member of Sigma XI, Gamma Sigma Delta, and of Phi Gamma Delta, a social fraternity.

Dr. Hill was a gentleman in the fullest sense of the word. He was generous to a fault, always considerate of others, and modest about his own achievements.

He is survived by his wife, an associate professor of genetics at the U.S. Pasture Research Laboratory at Penn State, and by a sister and two stepsisters.

H. W. Popp

PAGE SEVEN

Publication of the Barnhart Biographical File
by the New York Botanical Garden

For many years before his appointment as "Editorial Assistant" of The New York Botanical Garden in 1903 until his retirement in 1942, as Bibliographer, Dr. John Hendley Barnhart worked assiduously on what is called familiarly in many botanical institutions, simply, the "Barn-hart File." This information file on botanists consists of between 45,000 and 50,000 3 X 5 inch cards that give the last name of the individual, followed by the given name in full (and any changes in name, as by marriage); the day, month, and year of birth—and death—and place of each; and miscellaneous notes on academic experience, travels, etc., etc. On the back of the card appear sources of information, as published biographies, etc., verbal communications, references to Barnhart's extensive correspondence (now preserved in the Garden's library), etc. Although Barn-hart's work on the file slowed down gradually after his retirement in 1942 and terminated with his death in 1949. considerable data have been added since 1949. The Barn-hart file still stands as a monumental collection of biograpical data on the botanists of the world, from the earliest times up until the 194o's—with its primary emphasis on taxonomy.

If enough botanists and botanical institutions express interest in acquiring copies of this file in some form—as 3 X 5 inch cards, microfilm, microfiche, microcard, or some other microform—to make publication economically feasible, The New York Botanical Garden will take the necessary steps to make the Barnhart File available. Consequently, the Director of The New York Botanical Garden (Bronx Park, New York 58, N.Y.) requests expression of interest, advice on preference of method of publication (whether microcard, microfiche, etc.), and other helpful suggestions. Since the price will depend on the number of sets printed, no realistic estimate of cost can be made at this time. How-ever, no person who expresses interest or offers advice now will commit or obligate himself in any way later. As soon as the method of publication and the price have been decided, public announcement will again he made.

AWARDS

Dr. Paul C. Standley and Dr. Julian Steyermark were awarded, in mid-September, the Order of Quetzal by the government of Guatemala in recognition of their contribution to the development and protection of the flora and natural resources of Guatemala. Drs. Standley and Steyermark are authorities on the flora of Latin America and their rich collections and publications on the area are critical ones used in reference all over the world.

Dr. Standley now resides in Honduras. The importance of one of his major publications, The Trees and Shrubs of Mexico, first issued between 1920—1926, is attested to by its recent republication by the United States National Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Dr. Steyermark now resides in Caracas, Venezuela working on a flora of Venezuela at the Botanical Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture. He has collected in that country since 1943 and has published papers on that area along with recent work of the Flora of Missouri. At the presentation ceremony Dr. Steyermark is quoted as saying—"One of the outstanding aspects of our work in Guatemala is that we

journeyed throughout all that country. We walked and we rode horseback over a period of five years all together, working principally with the natives of the different regions accompanying us."

Biology Publications Needed at
the University of Nigeria

The University of Nigeria opened its doors to students in September, 1960. Science courses were started in September, 1961. The caliber of the biology courses will be seriously jeopardized unless equipment and library facilities can be developed rapidly. This is an appeal for donations to any-one who has unwanted back numbers of any biological journal that would provide useful reference material for under-graduate students or for research projects. Books also, in any phase of biology, would be useful. Supply manufacturers are also invited to send current catalogs.

Donors should do one of two things:

1. Ship the material prepaid to:

Dr. E. C. Martin, Biological Science Advisor University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria via Government Coastal Agent

Port Harcourt

2. Send material prepaid or deliver to Dr. George Axinn, University of Nigeria Project Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan

Darbaker Contest for 1962

Nominations for an award for "meritorious work in the study of the algae" will be accepted by the Committee on the Dar-baker Prize of the Botanical Society of America. The award will be made at the annual meeting of the Society at Corvallis, Oregon in August, 1962. Persons not members of the Society are eligible, but at present the award will be limited to residents of North America. The Committee will base its judgment primarily on papers published by the nominee during the last two full calendar years previous to the closing date for nominations. Only papers published in the English language will be considered. Nominations for the r962 award accompanied by a statement of the merits of the case and by reprints of publications supporting the candidacy should be sent to the Chairman of the Committee, Dr. Paul C. Silva, Department of Botany, University of California, Berkeley, in order to be received before June 1, 1962. The Prize for 1962 will depend on the income from the trust fund, but is expected to be about $250.00. (Other members of the Committee are: Paul B. Green, Robert W. Krauss, Jack E. Myers, and Janet R. Stein.)

PAGE EIGHT

News and Notes

The division of Biological and Medical Sciences of the National Science Foundation announces that the next closing date for receipt of basic research proposals in the life sciences is January 15, 1962. Proposals received prior to that date will be reviewed at the spring meeting of the Foundation's advisory panels and disposition will be made approximately four months following the closing date. Proposals received after the January 15, 1962 deadline will be reviewed following the summer closing date of May 15, 1962. Inquiries should be addressed to Biological and Medical Sciences Division, National Science Foundation, Washing-ton 25, D.C.

Legislation to conduct a feasibility study for the proposed botanical garden in Hawaii did not pass in Congress this year. The Hawaiian Botanical Gardens Foundation intends to try to get such legislation passed next year. At the meeting of the Pacific Science Congress held in Honolulu, and attended by more than 2700 delegates from all parts of the mainland, the entire Pacific area and many foreign countries, on September 2, 1961, a resolution endorsing the establishment of a United States National Tropical Botanic Gar-den in the State of Hawaii was adopted unanimously. The Foundation would appreciate advice and suggestions from botanists as to procedure in getting the feasibility study undertaken. Contact Dr. Constance E. Hartt, Secretary, Hawaiian Botanical Gardens Foundation, Inc., c/o Experiment Station, H.S.P.A., 1527 Keeaumoku Street, Honolulu 14, Hawaii.

The Department of Botany of the University of California at Berkeley wishes to announce the following changes in personnel. Effective July, 1959, Dr. Phillip J. Snider re-placed Emeritus Professor Lee Bonar in mycology. As of July, 1960, Dr. Robert E. Cleland replaced Dr. John G. Torrey in plant physiology and Dr. Roderic Park was added half-time to the staff in the area of chemical biology while continuing half-time as Chemist in the Bio-organic Group of the Radiation Laboratory. In September, 196o, Dr. L. R. Heckard became Senior Herbarium Botanist in the Jepson Herbarium and Library and in September, 1961, Dr. Paul C. Silva became Senior Herbarium Botanist in the University Herbarium in the area of phycology.

During the 1960-61 academic year, the Department had several visiting members on its faculty. Dr. Rafael Rodriguez replaced Dr. Herbert L. Mason, who spent most of a sabbatical year in New Zealand where, as the recipient of a Fulbright Grant, he was a research scholar in Botany at the University of Auckland. Dr. Paul J. Allen and Dr. Paul C. Silva replaced Dr. Leonard Machlis and Dr. George F. Papenfuss. respectively, both of whom held appointments as Research Professor in the Miller Institute for Basic Re-search in Science.

In 1961-62, while Dr. William A. Jensen holds an appointment as Research Professor in the Miller Institute, his place will be taken by Dr. Otto Stein. During the Spring term, Emeritus Professor William H. Weston will join the faculty while Dr. Johannes Proskauer is on sabbatical leave. Effective July 1, 1961, Dr. Adriance S. Foster completed his term as Chairman of the Department. He is succeeded by Dr. Leonard Machlis.

Prof. William P. Jacobs of the Biology Department, Princeton University, will be spending a leave-of-absence during the Spring and Summer of 1962 at Oxford University, Oxford, England, working on the movement of radio-active plant hormones and weed-killers with Prof. G. E. Blackman's group in the Agriculture Research Unit of the Department of Agriculture.

Dr. Tom K. Scott has moved from Stanford University to the Biology Department at Princeton University as a re-search associate of Prof. Wm. P. Jacobs. Dr. Scott is continuing his thesis research on the occurrence and transport of plant hormones.

The botanical group under Prof. William P. Jacobs in the Biology Department, Princeton University, has been awarded a grant of $30,000 from the National Science Foundation to further develop for graduate and post-graduate research the controlled environment facilities in the new Moffett research building.

Dr. Camilla Odhnoff, from the Institute of Plant Physiology of Lund University, Sweden, is a visiting fellow this Autumn in the laboratory of Prof. Wm. P. Jacobs at the Biology Department, Princeton University. In January 1962 she will move to the Botany Department, University of Wisconsin, where she will he working until June with Prof. F. Skoog's group. Dr. Odhnoff's American research is sup-ported by grants from the International Federation of University Women and the Swedish-American Foundation.

A "Development Council" has been established to represent the interests of the developmental biologists of the United States. The three organizations represented by the Developmental Council are the "Society for the Study of Development and Growth," the Division of Developmental Biology of the "American Society of Zoologists," and the Developmental Section of the "Botanical Society of America." The Developmental Council consists of three members, one from each of the participating organizations. The specific current purposes of the Council are to co-ordinate joint meetings (as recently held with the A.I.B.S.), advise government agencies and panels upon request, and to represent on the A.I.B.S. Governing Board the interests of develop-mental biologists through the A.I.B.S. representative of the "Society for the Study of Development and Growth."