SHORT ARTICLES. 55 



near Bay Farm Island, iu Alameda, but only on shells of the 

 Eastern Oyster {Ostrcea Virginiana). It seems quite probable that 

 it may have been introduced. 



EXPLANATION OF FIGURES. 

 PLATE II. 



Photograph of fresh plant of Nodoc amplimmum Setchell, col- 

 lected by A. J. McClatchie near Pasadena, California, in the spring 

 of 1896. The reduction is a little less than one-half the linear 

 dimension, as may be seen from the scale of inches at the side. 



PLATE III. 



1. Nostoc amplissimmn Setchell. Transverse section through the 

 frond of a specimen in vigorous vegetative condition, showing the 

 arrangement and shape of the trichomes. Magnified about 40 x. 



2. Nostoc amplimmum Setchell. Sjjore bearing filament with a 

 few sterile cells at the end. Magnified about 1,200 x. 



3. Scytonema caldarium Setchell. Portion of a filament showing 

 characteristic structure and branching. Magnified about 500 x. 



4. Scytonema occidentale Setchell. Portion of a filament, showing 

 characteristic structure and branching. Magnified about 400 x. 



SHORT ARTICLES. 



The Washington Botanical Club. — This organization dates 

 from an informal gathering of botanists held at the residence of one 

 of its members November 11, 1898. The limit of membership was 

 fixed at twenty; and it was determined that the meetings should be, 

 for the present at least, of a distinctly social and informal nature, 

 with free scope for discussion and the general interchange of ideas. 

 At a subsequent meeting held December 14, the organization was 

 perfected by the election of Prof Edward L. Greene as President 

 and Mr. Charles Louis Pollard as Secretary. The Club is to hold 

 monthly sessions, devoting itself chiefly to systematic and ecological 

 work, the field of physiology and vegetable pathology being covered 

 by the already existing Botanical Seminar. 



At the December meeting the following resolutions, commemora- 

 tive of the late Gilbert H. Hicks, were unanimously adopted and 



