NEWS NOTES AND CURRENT COMMENT. 79 



now entertain us with the more recent views held by Prunus domes- 

 tica, or, if modesty check him, perhaps Prunus domestica will ad- 

 vantage us with some of its uon -botanical views. 



A BOTANICAL PARTY from the University of California is spend- 

 ing the summer in tlie Aleutian Islands, and expects to explore 

 very thoroughly the island of Unalaska, although the Pribiloffs 

 may be visited by one member of the party. The expedition left 

 San Francisco, June 5, and consists of Prof. W. A. Setchell, who 

 will give his attention almost exclusively to the seaweeds; Dr. W. 

 L. Jepson, who will study the seed-plants ; Mr. L. E. Hunt, who 

 will do the camera work for tlie party and also collect lichens ; and 

 Mr. A. A. Lawson, who will devote much of his time to the collection 

 of fungi. They expect to return to California about September 1. 



On February 26 last a scientific party, consisting of A. W. 

 Anthony, well known to West American botanists, H. B. Kaediug, 

 R. C. McGregor, R. H. Beck, xVrthur Whitlock, Jas. N. Gaylord, 

 George Spencer, Chase Littlejohn and Charles Jones, sailed from 

 San Francisco in the steam-schooner Stella Erland, bound for the 

 South American Coast and the Galapagos Islands. During a fog 

 on the night of March 18, the boat ran ashore in a heavy current 

 on the coast thirty miles north of Magdalena Bay, Baja California. 

 All the party were saved, but the vessel, which belonged to Mr. 

 Anthony, was a total loss. This is Mr. Anthony's second experi- 

 ence in a sea disaster, he having been wrecked on the same coast 

 something over a year ago. 



We learn from its annual report for 1897-8 that the Field 

 Columbian Museum has acquired by purchase the complete herba- 

 rium of the late Mr. M. S. Bebb, of Rockford, Illinois, who was for 

 so many years our most capable student of the North American 

 willows. 



A " Genera Siphonogarum," by Dr. Torre and Dr. Harms, 

 based upon the Engler system, is in advanced preparation and will 

 soon be published. It will be to Engler and Prantl's Die Natuerl- 

 ichen-pflanzenfamilien, what Durand's Index is to Bentham and 

 Hooker's Genera Plantarum, and will be of similar service in the 

 herbarium and library. The ready consultation of Engler and 



