^OL* I.] Proceedings of Societies, ^ ^^^ 



Botanical Gazette, Febr. Undescribed Plants from Guatemala, 

 vii, ( Oxalis dimidiata, Hanbiiria parviflora, Styrax Guateniaie^ise 



olivceformey Canipanea p 



Nephrodiimi 



IV.) by John Donnell Smith. A Revision of North American Cor- 

 naceae, i {Cor?ms Baileyi and C. Greeiiei n. sp.) New Mosses of 

 North America, iii ( Dicranella Langloisii, Dicrantim coiisobrinum, 

 Didymodon IIe7iderso7ii, Grimmia tenerrima, Cosci7iodoji Reiiaitldi, 

 OrtJwtrichicm He7tdersoni, Orthotrichiwi 7dotcefor77iey Bryiim Hc7i- 

 dersoni) by F. Renauld and J. Cardot. 



Bull, Torr, Cltcb, March. An Enumeration of the Plants col- 

 lected by Dr. H. H. Rusby in South America, xi ( Tibouchina Rtisbyi, 

 T, Britto7iia?ia, T.lanceolata, T, steiwphylla, T, purpic}'asce7is, T.oc- 



Meria7tia 



J 



folia, M multijlora, all named by Cogniaux J 



N. L. Britton. The Carices of the Upper Half of the Keweenaw 

 Peninsula, Carex Notes xiii, by L. H. Bailey. ' Pinus Banksiana at 

 the West, by E. J. Hill. 



PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



California Academy of Sciences. March j, i8go. President Harkness in 

 the chair. 



Dr. C. H. Eigenmann read a paper on ''Some Features of the Freshwater Fauna 

 of South America," in which the following points were brought out: 



First— The great extent of the South American freshwater fauna as compared 

 with that of other continents, there being 126 species of freshwater fishes in Europe, 

 600 in North America, and 1200 in South America. 



Second— The relation of the fauna to that of other continents. All but two of 

 the genera, exclusive of marine forms entering rivers, are peculiar to South Amer- 

 ica, and no species of fish is common to tropical America, and any other continent. 

 The fauna is much more nearly related to the African than to that of North America. 



Third— The origin of the fauna is but very remotely connected with other faunas, 

 and with the exception of the Dipnoi and certain other old forms, the genera, and 

 at least ten of the families, are autochthons. 



Fourth— All the genera were grouped according to their distribution, and it was 

 found that the number of species of any genus varied directly as the extent of its 

 distribution. The Brazilian subregion was divided into the following provinces: 

 I, Pacific; 2, Andean; 3, Colombian; 4, Orinocan; 5, Guianan; 6, Amazonan; 

 7, San Franciscan; 8, Atlantic; 9, La Platan. 



Dr. Carrington 13olton, of the New York Academy of Sciences, was present at 

 the meeting, being on his way to the Hawaiian Islands to visit the "singing 

 sands" found there. He gave a very interesting account of a recent visit to a hill 

 of sonorous sand in Arabia. 



I 



