BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 27 



oval or broadly ob!ong (about 4 lines long and fully two inches wide), 

 plane, surmounted by a slender style of fully 2 lines in length; seeds 

 only 3 to 6, orbicular, distinctly winged; embryo as in the preceding; 

 petals pure golden yellow.— Cedar barrens, Lavergne, near Nashville, 

 Tennessee, Dr Gattin^^er, June 2, 1879. 



Fresh specimens and notes are solicited by Asa Gray. 



Automatic Movement of the frond of Aspi.enium Tricho- 

 MANES — Mr. E. J. Loomis, of the Nautical Almanac office, Wash- 

 ington, recently shewed me a phenomenon which 1 suppose has never 

 before been noticed, and which is commended to the attention of 

 botanists. A tuft of Asplcnium Trkhomanes, gathered last autumn in 

 the mountains of Virginia, is growing in his house, in a glass dish. 

 About two months ago he noticed ihat one of the fronds — a rather 

 short and erect one which is now showing fructification— made (piick 

 movements alternately back and forth, in the plane of the frond, 

 through from 20 to 40 degrees, whenever the vessel was brought from 

 its shaded situation into sunlight or bright daylight. The movement 

 was more extensive and rapid when the'frond was younger. When I 

 saw it on the 23d of January, its compass was within 15 degrees, and 

 was about as rapid as ihat of leaflets of Desmodium gyrans. It was 

 more rapid than the second hand of a watch, but with occasional 

 stops in the course of each half vibration. This was in full daylight 

 next a window, but not in sunshine. No movement had been observ- 

 ed in the other fronds, which were all sterile and reclining, with the 

 exception of a single one which was just unfolding, in which Mr. 

 Loomis thinks he his detected incipient motion of the same kind. 



It is very easy to obtain this little fern and to set it growing. We 

 may expect further observations to be made upon it without delay. — 



Asa (tRAY. 



How TO Make Permanent Botanical Objects for the Micro- 

 scope. —In the Gazette for September, 1879, I had a short paper on 

 s'aining and double staining of vegetable tissues. I desire now to 

 add a few hints on ihe previous and the subsequent stages of the 

 preparation. 



Mounted objects may be divided into two classes, i. e., the opaque, 

 and the transparent;— the former to be seen by a light (more or less 

 strong) from above, and the latter by light passing through the object 

 from below. 



The first thing for the preparer to decide upon, is, which of these 

 two classes shall any object come under? 



If the former, the preparation is extremely simple. The whole 

 problem resolves itself into making a suitable case for the treasure. 

 To give a tangible idea suppose we have the seed of a Portulaca or 

 the scarlet tip of a Cladonia, or the yellow apothecium of a Thelo- 

 schistes. The first thing to do, is to see that your cage (or to speak 

 strictly, your cell) is opaque and of sufficient depth to hold the object. 

 Opticians now keep wooden slides with a central concavity ready to 

 close by placing over it a glass cover. These are cheap and neat. 



