BOTANICAL GAZET2E. 136 



Col. Olney undoubtedly had in view a chair similar to that occupied 

 by Prof. Gray, at Harvard, but his wording is unfortunate for the 

 good of our science, or indeed of any other. 



The time has gone by when a composite chair of natural science 

 is desirable or even feasible. Another unhappy oversight in the testa- 

 tor was his neglect to provide for the payment of a curator. A large 

 herbarium can easily and profitably occupy a man's whole time. As 

 the increase of the library is the function of the Library Committee, 

 so will be the matter of addition to the herbarium. — W.W. Bailey. 



CuRTiss' 4TH Fascicle of Southern Plants. — As I am unable 

 to answer inquiries in regard to my next distribution, being absent 

 from home this fall, I beg leave to inform my friends through the 

 Gazette that Fascicle IV now in preparation and to l)e issued next 

 winter, will be uniform in all respects with Fascicle III. I think, 

 however, that the specimens will be more satisfactory, as I have a 

 better supply of materials. My collections of 1879 suffered much 

 from the humidity of the country in which I worked. The wonder is 

 that they were not wholly ruined. This year I have collected mainly 

 on the southern and western coasts of Florida, and have had excellent 

 success. The observations I have made this year will add largely to 

 our previous knowledge of Floridian Botany, extending and defining 

 the range of most plants ascribed to "South Florida," including nearly 

 all of those recently reported by Dr. Chapman through the Gazette 

 to which I am now able to add two or three dozen more species, 

 including three Palms and two epidendric Orchids. — A. H. C. 



Notes From Racine, Wis. — Concerning Mr. Cochran's note 

 oxi Physalis grandiflora. Hook. Dr. Lewis Sherman, of Milwaukee. 

 Wis., informs me that he collected the plant in 1874, at Stevens' 

 Point, Wis., which is near the centre of the State, and in about the 

 same latitude as Mr. Cochran's station. I was interested in the arti- 

 cles of Mr. L. H. Bailey, Jr., but missed some plants common on 

 the lake-shore here Aster angustus, Torr. and Gray, has been very 

 abundant on and near the beach, but is scarce this season, whether, 

 owing to the mild winter, the wet summer or some other cause, I am 

 unable to say. Ranvncuhis Cyf/ikilaria, L., is a common plant on the 

 beach. Salix Bairlayi, Anders, S. atnygdaloidcs, Anders, ^V. longifolia, 

 Muhl., .S". hicida. Muhl. and ,5". purpurea, L. , are more or less abund- 

 ant on the beach and sides of the bluffs. The common grass of the 

 the beaches here is Sporobohis crypiandrus, Gray. On the wet, clayey 

 sides of a gully in the lake bank, TrigioeJiin palustre, L. , and Lobelia 

 Kalmii, L., are abundant. Fortunately for the root-digger, Asclepias 

 tuberosa, L. , grows in the sand, but is not very abundant. 



The Asclepiads seem to have a tendency toward whorled leaves. 

 Besides the species in which such an arrangement is common, I have 

 collected A. inearuata, L. , with a whorl of four leaves, and A. 

 Cormiii, Decaisne, with leaves in both threes and fours and other spec- 

 imens with very short internodes. 



