NEWS NOTES AND CURRENT COMMENT. 181 



lents of fellowships in the colleges. One such position is now open, 

 and the successful candidate will be given ample opportunity to 

 avail himself of the facilities for investigation, and will be priv- 

 ileged to use the libraries, laboratories, and museums of the U. S. 

 Government. 



Recent botanical papers in the proceedings of the California 

 Academy of Sciences have been issued as follows: — 



November 17, 1898, Some Observations on the Development of 

 the Karyokinetic Spindle in the Pollen-Mother-Cells of Cobsea 

 scandens Cav., by Anstruther A. Lawson; April 15, 1899, The 

 Origin of the Karyokinetic Spindle in Passiflora coerulea Linn., by 

 Clara L. Williams; June 5, 1898, The Nature of the Association of 

 Alga and Fungus in Lichens, by George James Pierce; July 8, 1899, 

 Californian Hypogseous Fungi, by H. W. Harkness; July 21,1899, 

 Studies on the Flower and Embryo of Sparganiura, by Douglas 

 Houghton Campbell. 



As A RESULT of studious and prolonged researches upon the 

 liverworts of California, Dr. M. A. Howe has presented to us a 

 scholarly account of "The Hepaticse and Authocerotes of Califor- 

 nia," forming volume VII of the Memoirs of the Torrey Botanical 

 Club. The diagnoses of the species are full, to the extent sometimes 

 of being elaborate, are accompanied by critical notes and compari- 

 sons, and also by descriptions of the genera, families, and classes. 

 One hundred and twenty-two excellent plates illustrate species 

 hitherto not at all or only imperfectly figured, and a comparative 

 table shows the relation of our hepatic flora to that of other north- 

 ern regions of the earth. The number of species listed for Califor- 

 nia is 86 — representing 36 genera — but Dr. Howe hazards the 

 prophecy that explorations of the future, particularly of the Sierras 

 in the spring months, will nearly double the number of species now 

 known. 



We have just received a copy of Prof Conway MacMillan's 

 "Minnesota Plant Life," which is primarily a product of the 

 author's excursions, during twelve years, among the woods, lakes, 

 and rivers and over the prairies of Minnesota. It is not intended 



