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been over my head in any case. It was on the chemistry of ferments and pigments in plants and animals. I met a Dr. Vierhapper, who is interested in grasses. Next day he came to the herbarium and brought his papers, a set for each of us. I took both and said hertzliche Dank. I saw from his paper he was interested in cleistogamy so I asked if he had seen the cleistogenes in Danthonia. He hadn't so I got out some American ones and showed him. He was very much interested. I got out Triplasis, Pappophorum Wrightii, and Muhl. microsperma and found the cleistogenes in all first try. It isn't always that things "show off" when you want them to. I said that I had never found cleistogenes in any Danthonias outside the U. S.  D. provincialis is their only species, he said. We got that out and I found well-developed cleistogene. I was delighted. I put it in a packet and marked the place whence taken. I must have tried this in U.S. herb., for I tried to find if they did not exist elsewhere than in the U.S., when I wrote the last cleistog. paper. (Had cleistog. papers sent to Vierhapper), also Hitchcock's Genera of Grasses). He is working on European grasses and anatomy. The order followed in H Genera would interest him. He has ideas of his own as to generic relationships. He would put Sieglingia decumbens in Aveneae--shouldn't wonder if he is right. All this discussion was entirely in German, if you please! Friday I was called on to act as interpreter! Dr. Keissler brought a man to me and said he couldn't understand any German. I asked hesitatingly "Do you speak English?" "I cahn't speak anything else," he said. He has collected a great deal in South Africa and wants to exchange for African plants. We got into a funny mix-up when he asked if we would exchange. I told him we would be delighted to and that we had a fine lot of American grasses. He wanted African and seemed surprised that "we should have American duplicates. I suddenly realized that he thought I belonged here. So I interpreted between him and Dr. Keissler. He says that Dr. Stapf will 

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