144 
to the earlier one imposed under Hesperis by Sir William Hooker, 
CALYPTRIDIUM PANICULATUM.—Spraguea paniculata, Kel- 
logg., Proc. Cal. Acad., ii., 187, t. 56; Watson, 1. c., 78; Cur- 
ran, Bull. Cal. Acad. i., 132. 
This plant, so fortunately rediscovered by Mrs. Curran two 
years ago, although long-styled like the original Spraguea, has the 
ultimately calyptriform corolla of the several species which have 
already been published under the Nuttalian generic name. By 
these circumstances and the close resemblance which it bears to 
both those species of Calyptridium which Mr. Watson has pub- 
lished, it appears utterly to invalidate the genus Spraguea ; for 
genera cannot be rested on the mere length of styles and 
filaments, at least, when species are so perfectly one thing in 
habit, texture and properties. MJonocosmia, the South American 
ally of these plants, while outwardly resembling them quite 
closely, appears well and strongly founded on its herbaceous, 
indehiscent, one-seeded capsule. 
CALYPTRIDIUM UMBELLATUM.—Spraguea umbellata, Torr. 
Pl. Frem., 4, t. i; Watson, l. c., 77; Hook., Bot. Mag. 5,143. 
Notes on Marsilia quadrifolia. 
Near the obelisk in Washington, D. C., are a series of fish 
ponds used by the U. S. Fish Commission for German carp, etc. 
Four years ago, among various plants set out in order to ascertain 
their relations to fish culture, were Marstlia quadrifolia and M. 
sylvatrix, from Germany. The latter died out the next winter, 
but the former appears to have established itself, perhaps perma- 
nently, as specimens have been collected this year in various 
places remote from the point of introduction. This spreading 
,cannot be due to artificial aid, as the first supply (a part of which 
came also from Texas), was rooted out and an effort made to 
destroy it entirely, as experience showed it useless, if not injuri- 
ous to the fish. 
I collected and placed a quantity of it in a large dish kept 
supplied with water, where it grows very thriftily and is rather 
pretty, so that it may prove an addition to our list of aquarium 
_ plants. The first editions of Gray’s Manual do not contain this 
plant, which first appears in that of 1863, Addenda, collected by 
Dr. T. F. Allen in Bantam Lake, Litchfield, Conn. Also found 
