MISCELLANEOUS NOTES AND NEWS. . 13 



The cause of eczema resulting from handling bulbs of the Roman 

 Hyacinth, Hyacinthus orientaUs, and its varieties^ has been investi- 

 gated at the Jodrell Laboratory of the Ro^^al Gardens, Kew. After 

 several experiments, Dr. D. Morris concludes that it is directly due 

 to puncture by the raphides of oxalate of lime which occur in many 

 of the cells. It has often been observed that snails, though feeding 

 freely on other bulbous plants, leave Roman Hyacinths which are 

 growing alongside, untouched. It is said that the raphides injure the 

 delicate feeding organs of the snails. j. b. d. 



A NEW botanical text-book by Prof. W. A. Setchell is now in 

 press and will shortly be published by MacMillan & Co., New York. 

 The volume, which is entitled "Laboratory Practice for Beginners 

 in Botany," will be noticed in full in a subsequent issue. 



In the last Pitto7iia, under the title of " New and Noteworthy 

 Species, XVII," forty-five new species of West- American plants are 

 proposed by Professor Greene. These are chiefly of the genera 

 Ranunculus, Delphinium, Arnica, Crepis, Allocarya and Oreocarya. 

 The other papers are: "Studies in the Cruciferse," "Remarks on 

 Acaulescent Violets" and "Studies in the Compositse, IV." In the 

 latter paper two new genera are named and diagnosed: Oreastrum 

 (to include two subalpine species of Aster, A. alpigenus, Gray, and 

 A. Andersonii, Gray, and Oreastrum elaium, described as new) 

 and Leucelene. 



At the meeting of the Chamisso Botanical Club of the Univer- 

 sity of California, held January 18, Mr. W. J. V. Osterhout read a 

 paper on "Recent Investigations on the Sexuality of the Ascomy- 

 cetes." 



In the "Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences" 

 (Ser. 2, Vol. VI, 422-29) Miss Alice Eastwood describes seven 

 new species of Californian plants. These, with the locality whence 

 the type material came, are as follows: Seduvi Blochmance (near 

 Point Sal; this, from the account of the roundish bunch of "corms," 

 we should judge to be a remarkable addition to the list of Cali- 

 fornian species of the genus); Anemone Californica (Lot's Lake, 

 Plumas Co.) ; Hosackia rosea (Fort Bragg); Lupinns rostratus 



