39 



how much time has to be spent in the preparation of a single set, and 

 what small material advantage can be derived from such undertakings. 

 Austin's name is well-known by the readers of the Bulletin, to 

 which he has furnished the descriptions of no species of Mosses and 

 Hepaticae. Sixty-four others have been published in the Botanical 



Gazette. 



As an anatomist and judge of the character of the Mosses, Austm 

 had a quick perception, J3ut was often disposed to unreliable conclu- 

 sions, formed too confidently on incomplete materials. He has, 

 therefore, sometimes recalled his first determinations. But who is the 

 bryologist who has done otherwise ? A large number of his species, 

 some of them the finest and rarest in the North x\merican Bryology, 

 stand as wonders of his clear discrimination, and he leaves a name 

 dear to American botanists and well-known to European bryologists. 



The loss of Austin is especially to be regretted for Hepaticology, 

 of which he was the only representative in this country. He had 

 studied the Hepaticae as his specialty, with the purpose of publishing 

 a Synopsis, which time only prevented him bringing to completion. 



[Mr. Austin left sets of his Musci, and Hepaticae, all labelled and 

 accompanied by a catalogue and index. His private collection con- 

 tains very numerous specimens of each species, with his notes upon 

 their various forms in different localities. It would be an invaluable 

 aid in making critical researches in this field of enquiry, and should 

 be acquired by some scientific institution. Those who make a study 

 of these subjects ought to be prompt in procuring sets, both for their 

 own sakes and for the sake of the family of this devoted scientific 

 worker. The prices are given in the advertising page of this sheet.] 



34. The Genus PinuS. — Revision of the Genus Finns and de- 

 scription of Finns Elliottii^ by Dr. George Engelmann^ixox^ the Trans- 

 actions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis, February, 1880, 

 with three beautiful plates illustrating P. EUiottii, drawn on stone by 

 P. Roetter. 



With indomitable courage, patience and skill, Dr. Engelmann 

 attacks one after another the Doubting Castles of Botany and gener- 

 ally succeeds, if not in utterly demolishing them, at least in opening 

 to the Ijght their most gloomy dungeons. Mr. Bebb will probably 

 claim that Salix offers a more stubborn and more extensive obstacle 

 than Pinus, but the latter was fat enough from being reduced, be- 

 fore Dr. Engelmann sat down before it. It is claimed that the present 

 arrangement is as natural a one as any that can be devised, and that 

 by it, to some extent, even geographical alliances are best preserved. 



Dr. Engelmann finds, *' with Endlicher, the most valuable charac- 

 ter-in the fruit scale," or, to speak more correctly, "that the fruit 

 scale in this genus corresponds with a series of other characters 

 which constitute two very natural sections of the genus " Strobus and 

 Pinaster. The more or less thickened exposed part of this scale, 

 called the apophysis, is rather depressed and terminates in a blunt 

 point in Strobus ; in Pinaster, it bears its pdint on the^ usually more 

 thickened back, the umbo, mostly armed with a prickle or spur, 

 sometimes early deciduous. 



