130 
the least interesting specimens are those collected by Dr. James 
Eights in the southern part of South America and on the islands of 
the South Pacific Ocean. 
§ 140. Publications.—1. Botanical Contributions, by Asa Gray, 
to Proc. Am. Acad. Vol. XII. Dec. 27, 1876. We have here another 
paper by Dr. Gray, rich in descriptions of new species, and revisions 
of old points. The first article is on the Characters of Canbya, nov. 
gen. Papaveracearum, and Arctomecon, with two plates, beautifully 
drawn by Sprague, fit companions for those in the Genera. We 
felicitate Mr. Canby on the fair, and fairly earned, honor, and hope 
to see his namesake flourishing in cultivation. ‘“ From the Sagna- 
like tuft of foliage at the surface of the ground rises a multitude of 
tiny peduncles or scapes, each tipped with a bright white flower 
which lasts for many days; the petals (barely two lines long) open- 
ing at sunrise and at sunset closing over the ovary, and at length 
permanently over the capsule, into a globular form, which the dis- 
coverer [ Dr. Parry] likenstoa pearl. The most unexpected anomaly 
of a persistent (instead of a caducous) corolla is shared by Arctomecon, 
native of the same district, as Dr. Parry himself ascertained upon 
rediscovering that exceedingly rare plant in the spring of the pre- 
ceding year.” Arctomecon was partly reconstructed for the Botany 
of California, but, as some new points have since been noticed, a full 
character is here given. Dr. Gray affirms that the anthers in Pyro/ee. 
are in normal position in the bud, 7. ¢., that they are extrose and the 
pores basal. Other observers have thought differently, and he him- 
self at one time. This is an interesting point for those fond of 
botanical dissection. Compare Torrey’s Flora of State of N. Y., 
Vol. L., p. 451. It seems that Rafinesque’s genus Stezronema, dis- 
tinguished from Lysimachia by the presence of staminodia between 
the fertile filaments, and by the estivation of the corolla (in which 
each division is separately involute around, or even convolutely 
enwraps, the stamen before it), must be re-established, and we must 
label, instead of ZL. ciliata, L. radicans, &c. Steironema ciliatum, S. 
radicans, S. lanceolatum, and S. longifolium. The next important 
article is a re-arrangement of Asclepias and the allied genera, in 
which discussion Ir. Gray has had the aid of important notes by Dr. 
Engelmann. A curious find is that by the keen-eyed Mr. Green of 
Pectocarya, (Gruvelia) pusilla,a Chilian species, east of the Coast 
Range, therefore far from the coast, abounding in company with the 
natives of the region. Another Pectocarya (Gruvelia, DC.), P. 
setosa, mov. spec., has been found by Dr. Palmer in S. E. California. 
We presume that Dr. Gray’s Contributions may be procured from 
the Naturalist’s Agency, Salem, Mass.—2. Report of the Botanist 
(Charles H. Peck) made to the Regents of the University of the State 
of New York, for 1874, published, in advance of the Report on the 
Museum, in 1876. Mr. Peck has discovered the insects which are 
laying waste the spruce forests of the Adirondack region, viz., Hy- 
lurgus rufipennis, Kirby, the chief agent, and, in one instance, Apate 
rufipennis, Kirby, a much smaller beetle. It is to be regretted that 
_ these reports are not published more punctually, in order that the 
valuable information contained in them may the sooner be taken. in- 
