BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 166 



Agaricus (Tricholoma) Brownei. — Pileus convex, then plane, 

 dry, fleshy, densely furfuraceous, ochraceous-brown, looking like soft 

 kid or leather after the bran-like particles fall off; margin striate all 

 the way round, then only at intervals, flesh white, solid, unchanging; 

 lamellae adnate, forked, not distant, at first pale yellow turning darker 

 in age ; stipe hollow or stuffed, squamose, bulbous, penetrating deeply 

 into the earth by a fusiform root; spores white, globose, .00032 inches 

 in diameter ; taste slightly saline, but not disagreeable. 



Plant ten inches high, pileus seven or eight inches broad, stipe 

 eight lines thick. 



In woods near Baltimore, July and August. 



It gives me pleasure to dedicate this remarkably beautiful Agaric 

 to its discoverer, Mr. Wm. Hand Browne. 



RussuLA ciNNAMOMEA. — Pilcus dry, fleshy, centrally depressed, 

 cinnamon color, rimoso-squamose, flesh dry, spongy, tinged with 

 ochre ; lamelhe concolorous, narrow, forked, close, sinuate near the 

 margin ; stipe regular, smooth, pallid, blunt, at first stuffed, then hol- 

 low ; spores globose, .00032 inches in diameter; taste acrid. 



Plant two or three inches high, pileus four to six inches broad, 

 stipe one inch thick. 



In woods near Baltimore, June and July. 



RussuLA VARiATA. — Pilcus at first globose, then expanded and 

 centrally depressed, smooth, viscid, variable in color and even varie- 

 gated brownish or pinkish-purple, with at times a cast of green, epi- 

 dermis peels easily, the extreme under margin edged with a delicate 

 line of purple, flesh white, unchanging ; lamelltB white, adnexed, nar- 

 row, forked, close ; stipe white, smooth, more or less tapering at the 

 base, spongy within ; spores white, echinulate, .0003 by .0003 inches; 

 taste acrid. 



Plant nearly two inches high, pileus three or four inches broad, 

 stipe nine lines thick. 



In woods near Baltimore, July.— M. E. Banning. 



Bacteria THE Cause of Blight. — Recently the writer had the 

 pleasure of hearing a lecture by Prof. T. J. Burrill, Botanist of the 

 Illinoi.s State Board of Agriculture, in which he gave some results of 

 his recent investigations into the cause of Pear Blight. In diseased 

 trees he found the cell sap swarming with bacteria, multiplving usually 

 at the expense of the starch contents, accompanied of ( ourse by an 

 evolution of CO.,. To tcst the matter Prof. Buirill inoculated several 

 healthy trees by means of an inoculating needle and in the great ma- 

 jority of cases, within 7 or 8 days the subject would begin to show 

 signs of the Blight. 



Recent Publications. — The Amet-uan Journal of Science. — The 

 December number is mostly made up of a General Index to Vols. 

 XI-XX of the Third Series. During Dr. Gray's absence the Botan- 

 ical department is conspicuous by its absence. 



T/ie American Naturalist.— In the December number the depart- 



