32 : 
On dead branches of Juniperus Virginiana. New Paltz Landing, 
Ne Y. 
Peziza (Mallisia) pulviscula, Cooke.—Gregarious, very minute, 
like grains of sugar, soft, almost tremelloid. Cups globose, then 
expanded, smooth, pallid, watery yellowish white (0.4 mm. broad) 
diaphanous, asci cylindrical; sporidia exceedingly minute; sper- 
matioid (.0002’ long). 
On dead stems of Phytolacca. Poughkeepsie, N, Y. 
Uromyces Arisemez, Cooke.—( Uredo Ari - Virginict, Schw.,) im 
part.)}—Amphigenous, spots indefinite, scarcely discolored, sori gre- 
garious, sometimes in broken circles or circinate, small, for some 
time covered with the bullate cuticle, then irregularly ruptured ; 
pseudo-spores obovate, on very short pedicels, ferruginous, with a 
slight hyaline papilla at the apex. 
On leaves of Arisema. Poughkeepsie, N. Y. The spots on 
which the sori are arranged retain the bright green hue of the liv- 
ing leaf even after it. has been for along time dried. 
Peziza chrysophthalma, Ger., in Bull. Torrey Club, iv., p. 48, is 
P. convewula, Persoon. | 
Peziza nigropunctula, Gerard, in Bull. Torrey Club, v., p. 40, is 
P. compressa, Tul. 
For a correct determination of the above (with a single excep- 
tion) I am indebted to Dr. M. C. Cooke, through whose hands they 
have passed by duplicate. 
§ 25. Onoclea sensibilis—What is the origin of the specific name _ 
of this fern? Without knowing the authorities, I have commonly 
supposed the name to be derived from its sensitiveness to frost; 
but in a book of considerable note, “ Conversations on Botany,” 
4th Ed., London, Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown, 1823, 
on pp. 222, 223, I find the statement : 
“There is one species found in North America, called the sensi- 
“tive fern, Onoclea sensibilis, which is said to wither immediately 
“on being touched by the human hand, but to endure the touch of 
“other bodies without being at all injured. he 
“Sprengel, a German botanist, who wished to prove the trnth of 
“this curious circumstance, asserts that he repeated the experiment 
“several times, and always with the same effect.” 
I question whether the experience of any American botanist will 
confirm this a leged assertion of Sprengel. big > Be sD 
In Rees’ Cyclopedia we read, that the barren fronds are “ smooth 
and of a thin texture, so delicate that, as we have heard, the frond 
soon fades after being drawn through the hand while growing, which 
Morison also relates on the authority of Simon Paulli.” 
Our native plants are not usually of “ thin texture” and great 
“delicacy,” nor have we ever been able to see the propriety of the 
name.—| Eps. | 
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