34 



After the transaction of the regular business, at which it was re- 

 solved to purchase for the library Gray's Synoptical Flora of North 

 America,_ and a set of the Pacific Railroad Reports, the Club went 

 into session as a class and discussed the subject of " Leaves." A 

 large part of the members being beginners in the study, these classes 

 have been organized for their accommodation. The classes meet 

 weekly, one in Montclair, one in Bloomfield, and the third in Orange. 

 Montclair, N. J. Walter M. Wolfe, Sec'ty. 



29. Botanical News.— In a note published in the Cronica Ci- 

 entifica (Barcelona) of Jan. loth, a writer, Sr. Bofill, calls attention to 

 a recently issued work by Sr. D. Estanislas Vayreda on the " Note- 

 worthy Plants of Catalonia," in which the author asserts that the vis- 

 cid secretion which invests the internodes of the stem of Silene cras- 

 sicmdis, Willk. and Costa, (as also, to a less degree, those of S. in- 

 aperta, L., S. nutans, L., and a few other species) has the property 

 not only of capturing such insects as come in contact with it (whence 

 the English name " Catchfly "), but also of dissolving the soft por- 

 tions of their bodies ; and that these plants might therefore be con- 

 sidered truly insectivorous. Has it ever been noticed that our more 

 viscid American species of " Catchfly " {S. Pennsyvanicum, for ex- 

 ample) possess any such digestive properties ? 



The January number of the Revue Mycologtgue, which now includes 

 in its scope the subject of lichenology, contains articles by the editor 

 on Rupinia BaylacU ; the Peronospora of the Vine; an Unexpected 

 Occurrence of the White A^ariety of Catitharellus aurantiacus ; 

 Agaricus campestris and its Numerous Varieties ; the Anomalies ex- 

 hibited by Agaricus acerbus and equestris ; and a Revision of the 

 " Reliquioe Libertianae." Dr. Passerini describes 18 new species of 

 Italian fungi; Baron Thiimen contributes a second decade of exotic 

 fimgi ; and Dr. Miiller gives an enumeration of all the Egyptian 

 lichens that are known up to the present time. The remainder of 

 the number is taken up with the bibliography of fungi and lichens. 

 It would prove a great convenience to readers if M. Roumegu^re 

 should have his Revue stitched instead of issuing it, as at present in 

 loose sheets. ' 



In the February number of the Botanical Gazette, Prof. Thos. C. 

 Porter contributes a note on Viola tricolor var. arvensis, in which he 

 urges that this plant has strong claims to be regarded as a native. In 

 fact, the evidence in favor of such a view seems to be gradually in- 

 creasing. We know of at least one New York station for this violet 

 whither it is impossible that it could have escaped from a garden 

 Under the name of Viola tenella the plant figures in Dr. Torrey's list 

 of plants collected by Dr. James during Long's Expedition to the 

 Rocky Mountains in 1820. It was found growing along the Missouri 

 in a district of country which at that early period must have been a 

 wilderness. The other original notes in the Gazette are on Lepidium 

 campestre, by Rev. S. Lockwood : on Aspleniuin Bradleyi, by Prof F 

 L.Harvey: Bursting of the Fruit of "^ ' ' '' " - —' ' 



White: and a Reolv to Mr MpaTi^t 



J 



Euphorbia corollata, by W 



J 



