14 BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 



Mr. L. M. Underwood sends some fine specimens of Scolopemlruiu vulgai'e, col- 

 lected at Green Pond, Onondaj2;a Co., N. Y. 



In a letter from Mr. Thos. Meehun lie mentions that Acanthosijerinum .vanthoides is 

 making itself at home in many parts of the Southern States. 



Mr. N. Coleman writes as follows: "I have found Eupatorium 2)ei'ftiUatuiii with 

 pink florets tills fall, and one plant of Plnntngo hmceolata without stamens. But the 

 most singular find of the season has been Fhiididjo lanceohita with branching spikes. I 

 came across several that had two or three or more spikes at base of the main spike. 

 From the form of the latter I could n')t see au}^ possible insect agency in tlie case." 



Yucca Dkaconis.— One of the most interesting exhibits at our late Agricultural 

 Fair were three growing plants of the shrubby, palm-like Yucca Drnconu, L., and sam- 

 ples of a very superior quality of paper, botii brown and white, which is being manu- 

 factured from the til)res of this plant in two localities of this State, viz: at Soledad 

 Mills, Los Angelos county, and at the Lick Jlills, Santa Clara county. Sections of the 

 caudex, which often attains a height of 20 feet, with its pulp in every stage of the pro- 

 cess of paper-making, bleached and unbleached for white and colored paper, for the 

 purposes of jirinting, wra])ping, etc., were displayed. 



The Yucca forms an abundant native growth of the desert portions of Southern 

 California, Arizona and Northern Mexico. The Southei'ii Pacific railroad which passes 

 through many miles of these forests, aftbrds ample facilities for its transportation and 

 utilization. — M. E. P. A., San Joae, Oct. Infli, 1877. 



Recent Pubijcations. — Ameriran Jounttd <>f Srieiice and Arts, December. — The 

 herbarium of the late Arthur Schott is olTered for sale. It is said to contain 7,000 

 species and to be rich in plants of the United Stales and Mexican Boundaiy, of Mexico 

 and of Central America. Apjilication to be made to H. Scholl, Georgetown, D. C. An 

 extract is given from Nature of Oct. 25, being an article Ijy Sir Joseph Hooker upon his 

 recent trip to the Rocky Mountains in comjianv with Dr. Gray. We have space to give, 

 in the words of Dr. Hooker, only the result of the expedition : "The net result of our 

 joint investigation and of Dr. Gray's previous intimate knowledge of the elements of 

 the American flora is, that the vegetation of the middle latitudes of the continent re- 

 solves itself into three principal meridional floras, incomiiaralily more diverse tlian 

 those presented by any similar meridians in the old world, being, in fact, as far as the 

 trees, shrubs, and many genera of herbaceous plants ;ire concerned, absolutely distinct. 

 These are the two humid and the dry intermediate regions. Each of these again is 

 sub-divisible into three, as follows: 



(A.) The Atlantic slope plus Mississippi region, sub-divisible in (1) an Atlantic; 

 (2) a Mississippi valley ; and (3) an interposed mountain region with a temperate and 

 sub-alpine flora. 



(B.) The Pacific slope, subdivisible into (1) a very humid cool forest-clad coast 

 range; (2) the great hot drier Californiau Valley, formed by the San Joaquin River flow- 

 ing to the north, and the Sacramento River flowing to the south, both into the Bay of San 

 Francisco; and (;5) the Sierra Nevada flora, temperate, sub-alpine, and alpine. 



(C.) The Rocky Mountain region (in its widest sense, extending from the Missis- 

 sippi beyond its forest region to the Sierra Nevada), sub-divisible into (1) a prairie 

 flora; (2) a desert or saline flora; (3) a Rocky Mountain proper flora, temperate, sub- 

 alpine, and alpine." 



The OtilcH of the United Sttitet;. (Continuation.) By Dr, Geo. Engelmann. In this 

 paper Dr. Engelmann tiisl makes some corrections and additions to his former paper on 

 this genus, published over a year ago. 



