63 
Index to Recent American Botanical Literature. 
Arizona Fossil Wood.—Identification of the. P. H. Dudley. 
(Journ. N. Y. Micros. Soc., i., p. 220.) 
This silicified wood is of many species, a few of which prove 
to be Araucaria. 
Aspidium Oreopteris, Swartz. T. J. W. Burgess. (Botan. Ga- 
Zette, X12: Oa) 
This rare fern, hitherto only known as American from speci- 
mens collected in Unalaska by L. M. Turner, has recently 
been discovered by Professor Macoun on Mount Dawson, British 
Columbia, at an altitude of about 6,500 feet. The fronds are de- 
scribed as narrower and more graceful than those of the Unalas- 
kan and of most European forms, 
Botanizing in Texas. J. Reverchon. (Botan. Gazette, xi., pp. 
56-59.) 
Elastic Fruit in Mammillaria. Thomas Meehan. (Proc. Phil. 
Acad. Sci., 1885, p. 378.) 
Development of the Root in Botrychium ternatum. Douglas H. 
Campbell. (Botan. Gazette, xi., pp. 49-53, plate IV.) 
The roots of the Ophioglossacee are much less numerous than 
those of the true ferns, but of correspondingly greater size; a 
single principal one only is developed at the base of each leaf. 
They are thick and fleshy, and almost destitute of fibrils. The 
root-caps do not present the stratified arrangement of cells seen 
in filices, but walls are soon formed in all directions. The paper 
is well illustrated and thoroughly discusses the anatomy of the 
roots, 
Fruit of Opuntia. Thomas Meehan. (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. 
Phil., 1885, pp. 365, 366.) 
A series of specimens were exibited showing a gradual change | 
from the joint or frond to the fruit of an unknown species, allied 
to O. Braziliensis. 
Fungi inducing decay in Timber. P.H. Dudley. (Trans. N. Y. 
Acad. Sci., v., pp. 110-118.) 
Seventeen species are enumerated and many others are yet _ 
to be determined. Among the most destructive is Lentinus 
