58 



som only very sparingly. Again, the anthers of others^ such as Aio- 

 pecurus alpinus^ and Stellaria longipes rarely open so as to shed their 

 pollen, as they do abundantly in lower latitudes. These instances go 

 to confirm the author's observation that Arctic plants are independent 

 of reproduction by seed. Butterflies and other insects, whose office 

 it is to fertilize flowers, occur here ; but this duty is no longer per- 

 formed by them, and they remain merely as the relic of a former 

 more extensive Arctic fauna. The other papers in this number are 

 " Notes on the Flora of Northamptonshire," by G. C, Druce, and 

 "On the Distribution of Hypnum salebrosum in Britain," by E. M. 

 Holmes. : 



Catalogue of the Pacific Coast Fjingi, by H. W. Harkness, M, 

 D., and J. P. Moore, A.M. This Catalogue, issued under the auspices 

 of the California Academy of Science, is the first of the kind ever 

 published on the Western Coast, and contains the names and stations 

 of such fungi as have been thus far found and identified by the authors 

 in a district embraced within quite extended limits — from Mt. Shasta 

 on the North to Fort Yuma on the South, and from the seashore to 

 the eastern limits of the Sierras. The authors say that " in the cave 

 fungi, or fungi of our mines, comparatively little has been done* 

 Want of literature on this subject has been a great hindrance to us in 

 this work. The single cave fungus placed in the addenda is so strik- 

 ing that we have deemed it worthy of an insertion.*' The remarka- 

 ble fungus here referred to, described by Mr. Moore under the name 

 of Agaricus tridens, was found in a Nevada mine at a depth of 400 

 feet below the surface. The stem was 3 ft. and 4 inches long, and 

 hung suspended from a piece of timber, to which it was attached by 

 a disk several inches in diameter. At 9 inches from the point of 

 attachment the stem divided into three branches, which again united 

 at just 9 inches from the point of division, and immediately sent off 

 two lateral branches. The main stem continued downward, enlarg- 

 ing to the dianieter of nearly 3 inches. At the point of attachment 

 of the cap or pileus short branches, resembling the young antlers of a 

 stag, projected. Two of them, more vigorous than the rest, extended 

 downward, the larger of the two dividing into three branches, thus 

 termmating the whole in a perfect trident. This is one of those cur- 

 ious monstrosities of some fungus which are very apt to occur in such sit- 

 uations as the one described, and which have often been noticed in 

 Europe. Certain conditions of heat and moisture, combined with 

 the absence of light, seem to conspire to cause an exuberance of 

 growth of the hymenophore and its support at the expense of the 

 hymemum and its fruit. Were the specimen under consideration a 

 normal one, its decurrent, notched gills, its coriaceous texture, and 

 Its woody habitat would undoubtedly place it, not in the genus Agar- 

 icus, but xxiLentinus. The majority of the fungi embraced in the list 

 belong to the same genera and species as those found in other por- 

 tions of the United States ; although, as might have been expected, a 

 large number of new species have been detected. The most remark- 

 able discoveries, it seems to us, are those found recorded in the order 



7v''L^^r '; '"'^ ^^r T^'" ^^^" "^^^^^^ «^ Podaxon Loandensis, 

 Lycope^don aspernmum, Z. btcolor. Z. caespitosum, and Z. radicatum, all 



