140 THE PLANT WORLD. 



I have been interested in the rapid increase of the fungus 

 SpJiiprostile coccopJiila on the Oak Scale insect {Aspidiotiis obscurus) on 

 young water oaks planted as street trees. The trunks in many cases 

 now look red with the fungus even at a little distance. After several 

 unsuccessful attempts I now have it growing, though as yet rather 

 feebly, on the San Jose Scale [Aspidioiiis perniciosus) on some infested 

 apple trees. — F. S. Earle, AtiburJi, A /a., Feb. p, iSgg. 



William M. Tisdale, in Lippincotfs Magazine for March, states 

 that while ginseng root, millions of dollars' worth of which are an- 

 nually exported from the United States to China, is extensively em- 

 ployed in the prescriptions of Chinese physicians, it is not because of 

 any specific action that the plant is supposed to induce, but because it 

 is believed to strengthen and reinforce the action of the other ingre- 

 dients of a compound of which it is a part. He adds that the finest 

 ginseng comes from Korea, the American roots being of an inferior 

 quality. — C. F. Saunders .^ PJiiladclphia, Pa. 



In May, 1895, I recorded the ia.ci {Botanical Gazette, 20 : 229) that 

 the spore fruits of Marsilia qnadrifolia had so completely excluded 95 

 per cent, alcohol that both microspores and megaspores from them 

 germinated freely, although they had then remained in the alcohol 

 continuously for almost three years. It may be of interest to record 

 further that when, in April, 189S, the last of the material gathered in 

 the summer of 1892 was used up, no diminution in the vitality of the 

 spores was apparent. Vigorous normal prothallia were grown from 

 them in great numbers. The sporocarps had thus kept out alcohol 

 for almost six years. Many young sporophytes were planted on the 

 mud in a sheltered bay of Lake Mendota in the hope that some would 

 survive, but none have since been seen. — -diaries R. Barnes, The 

 University of Chicago. 



The March number of ErytJiea contains a valuable article by 

 Prof. W. A. Setchell, containing directions for collecting and preserv- 

 ing marine algae. It should be in the hands of all who would make 

 satisfactory collections of these plants. The same number also con- 

 tains 'an article by George Hansen on the Lilies of the Sierra Nevada. 

 Four species are mentioned, as follows: Lilium pardalinum, with 

 stalks often six feet in height and clear orange flowers often washed 

 with deep brownish red, and spotted with deep maroon; L. Huniboltii, 

 with stalks four to eight feet high, bearing branches of from five to 

 twenty- five flowers of a reddish orange with purple spots; L. parviim, 

 an alpine species, with stems four feet or more in height and from 

 twenty to fifty orange flowers spotted inside; L. Washingtonianum, 

 called the Queen of the Lilies of the Sierras, has the stems five to seven 

 feet high, with two to seven pure white, very fragrant flowers. 



