9^ 
o 
neighboring hills, did not fail on account of the summer heat. All 
the forms were of the coarsed-leaved kinds, the leaves frequently 
having a length of 2-;^^ inches, and a corresponding width, being 
3-5-nerved. The fruit, in capitate clusters, and with the keel more 
or less crested and notched, was very abundant. In these characters 
it approaches 7^. Niagarensis^ Tuckerman; but, according to Mr. 
Morong, to whom some of the most marked specimens were sub- 
mitted for comparison with type specimens in Robbins's herbarium, 
they are not quite identical. This great variability of leaves, and to 
some extent of fruit, both of which were carefully studied in speci- 
mens gathered in many localities, and under diverse conditions of 
growth, seems to lead conclusively to the opinion that no well marked 
line of separation can be drawn between F. Niagarensis^ Tucker- 
man, and F. paucijloriis^ Pursh ; and that the former should be re- 
garded as a variety of the latter. The same is true if based on a 
comparison of specimens collected in several quite widely separated 
localities in the West and North-west. 
F, pusilliis. Specimens of this would have to be classed with 
the variety vulgaris^ Fries, sometimes approaching var. majors Fries, 
but more often var. tenuissimus, Mertens & Koch. In Silver Lake 
three forms were noticed, a common one with stems often 4I- feet 
long, but with fruit immature; a second with stems also long, of a 
reddish or pink color, and spikes of fruit emersed; a third with fruit 
larger and longer than usual, somewhat oblong, with a rather long, 
recurved style, the sides of the fruit impressed; spikes interrupted; 
stems 3-5 feet long. 
F. inarinus. This was very abundant in Hemlock Lake, m water 
ii-3 feet deep, frequently in beds completely covering the bottoixi. 
The stems were usually long for the species, being about_ one foot in 
length, and the fruit copious. It was detected nowhere in the shal- 
lowest water nearest the shore, this ground being occupied almost m- 
variably by F. spirillus, equally common but not in so dense beds. 
That found in Conesus Lake was not so tall, nor very common, as far 
as examination was made. 
It may be of interest to state in connection with this as an evidence 
of the purity of the water of Hemlock Lake, from which the city of 
Rochester takes its water supply, that Potamogetons gathered there 
were almost wholly free from the earthy sediment which usually 
clings to these plants and is very troublesome to the collector, mar- 
ring the looks and cleanness of his specimens. Chemical analysis 
has shown that the water of this lake ranks with the purest m the 
State. Species of Fotamogeton, found in the neighboring Conesus 
Lake, whose water looks equally pure to the eye, were, however, quite 
thickly coated with an earthy deposit. 
The time of these examinations was between July 22d and Aug. 
9th, and the greater part of the species found showed some mature 
fruit, generally essential for complete identification. 
Englewood, 111. E. J. Hill. 
Pinus Banksiana.— In the July number of the Bulletin (p. 82), 
Mr. N. L. Britton calls attention to the fact that our botanical writers 
