BOTANY. 



By Professor W. G. FARLOW, 



Boylston Hall, Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass. 



There lias been a very general activity during the present 

 year on the part of botanists, as is shown by the large num- 

 ber of papers published in the different journals ; although 

 it would seem that the number of published books, particu- 

 larly of those relating to flowering plants, was smaller than 

 usual. As has been the case for some years past, the work 

 done in Germany has been largely physiological and de- 

 velopmental, while in England and this country descriptive 

 botany has been almost exclusively studied. During the 

 year an unusual number of prominent botanists have died, 

 of whom a considerable proportion were still in their prime, 

 so far as activity in botanical pursuits was concerned. It 

 is seldom that in one year four such prominent names as 

 those of Alexander Braun and Hofmeister in Germany, and 

 De Xotaris and Parlatore in Italy, disappear from the ranks 

 of botanists. 



GENERAL.* 



Phaenogams. 



In striking contrast to what is usually the case, there is 

 but little to be recorded in the department of descriptive 

 phaenogamy. The "Flora Brasiliensis" has been continued, 

 one volume being devoted to the Graminece, comprising the 

 suborder Panicem. The " Dictionnaire de Botanique," con- 

 ducted by Baillon, has also been continued by a second part, 

 comprising several different orders. The Proceedings of the 

 Linnrean Society include a number of short articles on phae- 

 nogams, the principal of which is an account by J. G. Baker, 

 of the Iridece. The Journal of Botany contains also a num- 

 ber of short articles, among which may be noticed "Descrip- 



* The special report with regard to botany in America will be found on 

 page 333. 



