BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 217 



I have referred this fungus to the genus Bovista, although it is a 

 remarkable and somewhat aberrant species. The external peridium 

 is coated with fine whitish mycelioid tilaments which permeate the 

 surrounding soil and bind it together so that the plant is enveloped 

 in a coat of dirt which adheres closeh^ to it. When mature this pe- 

 ridium with its adhering dirt may be separated from the inner perid- 

 ium in large flakes or even almost entire. When the plants are taken 

 from their place of growth the basal part of this peridium remains in 

 the ground unless care is taken to secure the whole plant. The spec- 

 imens are not quite old enough to show the mode of rupture of the 

 inner peridium. The flocci are more slender and less lu-anched than 

 is usual in species of Bovista. There is no mass of cellular tissue at 

 the base of the f)eridium, the whole cavity being filled with the ca- 

 pillitium ^nd spores, which are of a pale snulf color. Concerning its 

 'habit and habitat Mr. Irish writes, tliat the plants do not grow upon 

 the top of the ground, but are sunk in it, the upjjer part just reach- 

 ing the surface. As seen from above they present the appearance of 

 that fungus that resembles bird-lime scattered over the ground. They 

 grow in little communities occupying from three to five square feet 

 and always in thick grass. Their crowns are covered with a closely 

 adhering scale or scales of soil and the lower part of the whitish en- 

 velope always parts from the plant on taking it out of its bed. 



Gymnosporangiiim speciosum. — Erurapent in tuberculiform or ob- 

 long laterally-compressed masses, orange colored ; spores large, ellip- 

 tical or oblong, uniseptate or biseptate, often strongly constricted at 

 the septum, .002-.003 of an inch long, .OOOS-.OOll of an inch broad, 

 the pedicel about .0003 of an inch thick. 



Bark of Juniper us occidentalis. Colorado. T. S. Brandegee. Com- 

 municated by E. A. Ran. 



This species retains its bright orange-yellow color in the dry state, 

 a peculiarity by which it is readily distinguished from the other 

 American species, (/. JHuiperianurii, G. hisepiatuvi and (t. clavipes. 

 The spores in this are also rather larger than in the other species. 

 They are often biseptate but the greater number are uniseptate. 



PucciNiA ABERRANS. — Spots uone ; sori amphigenous, generally con- 

 fluent, dark reddish-brown ; spores oblong or oblong-clavate, obtuse 

 or obtusely pointed, constricted at the septum, occasionally bisep- 

 tate, .0016-.0024 of an inch long, .OOOS-.OOl of an incli broad, the 

 pedicel very short or obsolete. 



Leaves of Smeloivskia cahjcina. Alta, Wasatch Mts., Utah. Alti- 

 tude 12,000 feet. M. E. Jone^. 



