BOTANY. 505 



" Notes on Botrychium simplex ;"* and the same writer Las a 

 paper in the Torrey Bulletin for January on Vernation in 

 Botrychia. Both papers are illustrated. In a third paper 

 by Mr. Davenport, in the Naturalist for November, he gives 

 an account of Aspidium spinulosum and its varieties, and 

 makes a new species, ^4. Americanum, of A. spinulosum, var. 

 intermedium, Eaton. Four interesting ferns, new to the 

 United States, Ceratopteris thalictroides, Cheilanthes micro- 

 phylla, Asplenium firmum, and Asplenium cicutarium, are 

 reported by Professor Eaton in the Torrey Bulletin as hav- 

 ing been found in Florida. Professor Eaton has determined 

 a collection of ferns collected in Trinidad by Mr. August 

 Fendler, and sets of them have been distributed from the 

 herbarium at Cambridge. The popularity of the study of 

 ferns is shown by the fact that scarcely a number of the 

 Torrey Bulletin or Botanical Gazette has appeared during 

 the year which has not contained notes, often of considera- 

 ble length, about our native species. The Botanical Gazette 

 for January contains a paper on the species of Isoetes of the 

 Indian Territory, by Dr. George Engelmann. Besides a de- 

 scription of the new species, Isoetes Butleri, there are some 

 remarks on Isoetes melanopoda, which is peculiar to a belt of 

 prairie country extending from northeast to southwest, from 

 Illinois to Iowa, the Indian Territory, and Texas. 



In the department of bryology the literature is rather 

 scanty. Mr. C. F. Austin has two articles in the Botanical 

 Gazette, in one of which he describes five new mosses; the 

 other is a note on Polytrichum tenue and P. brachyphyllum. 

 In the Torrey Bulletin, Professor Eaton has a note on Cono- 

 mitrium Julianum, which he found in abundance at Hamden, 

 Conn. When spread out in water, the capsules detach them- 

 selves in large numbers. Supplement No. 1 of the MusciAp- 

 p>alachiani, containing one hundred species of mosses col- 

 lected mostly in the eastern part of North America, is an- 

 nounced as ready for distribution by Mr. C. F. Austin. 



THALLOGENS. 



Lichens. 



In discussing the progress of botany in America, while 

 speaking of the higher plants, it was only necessary to men- 



Y 



