BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 20$ 



named it as new, and sent a branch to Dr. Gray, who writes back 

 that it is his unpublished H. WrigUii, which he ha ^obtained from 

 San Bernardino through Mr. W. G. Wright, only a year earlier 

 than the date of mv collecting it as a waif five hundred miles from 

 its home. The seed, from which my waif specimen was produced, 

 came probably by rail; for it was at the terminus of the railroad 

 route that I found the plant.— Edward Lee Greene, Berkeley, Cal- 

 ifornia. 



Botany at Harvard University. 



The following brief notes, taken while spending the winter at 

 the Botanic Gardens, will give the readers of the Gazette an iaea 

 of the nature and method of instruction given m this branch oi 

 Natural History at Harvard University. 



Botany is one of the many elective studies which the whole course 

 contains, so that all who begin it do not necessarily finish it. The 

 course in elementary botany begins about October 1. and continues 

 throughout the year. It consists,first,of practical exercises in analysis, 

 by winch means the student is made familiar with the process of de- 

 termining plant names. This i done by analyzing, first some of 

 the more common, regular, symmetrical flowers, and afterwards the 

 irregular ones, such as some of the large Cotnpositw. Practical ex- 

 ercises are then given in the use of the analytical key. by which the 

 student is made familiar with the process of tracing plants to then- 

 proper places in the Natural Orders. The next subject is to con- 

 sider the different parts of the plants, following the plan given in 

 Gray's Structural Botany. 



'Each student is required to work six hours a week in the la- 

 boratory, with, a dissecting microscope. The last half of this course 

 is devoted to the study of the Natural Orders and the useful plants 

 which they contain," accompanied with the study of the most 

 striking phenomena of vegetation. 



At the beginning ot the second year, the class take up the 

 study of biology, pursuing a course rather more extensive than 

 that given in Huxley"s Elements of Biology; beginning with the 

 lower Cryptogams, "such as Bacteria, the different Moulds, etc.; 

 passing to the higher forms, making a thorough study ot the 

 Ferns; finishing the first half with the study of Histology. Dur- 

 ing the second naif year the class is given a thorugh course m exper- 

 imental vegetable physiology,and systematic botany. In this course, 

 besides the collection and identification of plants,each student is fur- 

 nished with a compound microscope, and is required to spend at 

 least six hours a week, during the last half year, in laboratory 

 practice, in the examination of important orders, giving results ot 

 experiment with the different apparatus at his command. I he 



