BOTANICAL GAZET7E. 138 



Herbarium to be disposed of. — I learn to my surprise that 

 the Herbarium of the late J. T. Holton, which was carefully boxed 

 up in his lifetime, still remains on the Iiands of his widow and chil- 

 dren. It was long ago understood that his college classmates were to 

 purchase it for four or five hundred dollars, and present it to their 

 alma mater, Amherst College. This has not been done, and the col- 

 lection could now be had by any botanist at a low price The her- 

 barium is mainly North American, but contains the full set of the 

 collection which Mr. Holton made in the interior of New Grenada, a 

 great number of Erkece collected and named by Drege at the Cape of 

 Good Hope, etc. The number of species, according to Mr. Holton's 

 memorandum, is 6,895. Address Mrs. S. W. Holton, Everett, 

 Mass. — A. Gray. 



(Mr. Holton also left in his library fourteen consecutive volumes 

 of DeCandoUe's Prodromus, which his widow would be glad to 

 sell. - Ed.) 



Digestion in Plants. — Dr. Dawson Tait has recently investi- 

 gated afresh the Digestive Principles of plants. While he has 

 obtained complete proof of a digestive process in Ccphalotus, Ne- 

 penthes, Diomea. and the Droseraeea, he entirely failed with Sarracenia 

 and Darliiigtouia. The fluid sejmrated from Drosera binata he found 

 to contain two substances, to which he gives the names "droserin" 

 and "azerin." Dr. Tait confirms Sir J. D. Hooker's statement that 

 the fluid removed from the living pitcher of Nepenthes into a glass 

 vessel does not digest. A series of experiments led him to the con- 

 clusion that the acid must resemble lactic acid, at least in its proper- 

 ties. The glands in the pitchers of Nepenthes he states to be quite 

 analogous to the peptic follicles of the human stomach ; and when the 

 process of digestion is conducted with albumen, the products are 

 exactly the same as when pepsine is engaged. The results give the 

 same reactions with reagents, esjiecially the characteristic violet with 

 oxide of copper and potash, and there can be no doubt that they are 

 peptones. — Nature. 



Floridian AiG.E. — During my recent cruise among the 

 Florida Keys nothing interested me so much as the Sea-weeds. 

 Being familiar with the Algae of the Pacific and Atlantic coasts^ I 

 would hardly have believed that many of these belonged to that order, 

 but for some previous acquaintance. Thtir resemblance to lichens, 

 fungi, and corals is truly wonderful. Knowing the Reef Algae to be 

 much sought for and almost unobtainable, I collected a large quan- 

 tity of specimens aud had excellent success in preserving them. They 

 have been identified by Prof. Farlow, our best authority on Marine 

 Algae, and in December I shall have them ready for distribution, 

 mounted in the best manner on card board 4^ by dy^ inches in size. 

 They will be issued in three sets, each comprising two dozen species, 

 at three dollars per set. — A. H. Curtiss, 



