68 ERYTHEA. 



Both names have always been in use, either as varietal or specific, 

 each author adopting that name (either pida or variegata), which to 

 him seemed the more appropriate, Asa Gray using pida as a varietal 

 name in the fifth edition of the "Manual," antedating Nicholson 

 some eighteen years. The proper varietal name, authority, date 

 and place of publication are: Phalaris arundinacea Linn.; var. 

 pida Linn., Sp. PI. Ed., p. 80 (1753). Such statements from one 

 making the Graminese a subject of special study are, to say the 

 least, surprising. O. A. Far well. 



Detroit, Mich., May 12, 1898. 



NEWS NOTES AND CURRENT COMMENT. 



Dr. Roland Thaxter, Assistant Professor of Cryptogamic 

 Botany in Harvard University, sailed from Boston for the Naples 

 Biological Station the last week in March. His leave of absence 

 extends until September. 



C. F. Baker and F. S. Earle, associate- botanists of the Ala- 

 bama Biological Survey, are engaged this summer in an extended 

 exploration of the La Plata and San Juan Mountains of south- 

 western Colorado. 



The seventh session of the Hopkins Seaside Laboratory of the 

 Leland Stanford Junior University began June 6, 1898. Of the 

 five courses offered one is botanical, a "Course in General Crypto- 

 gamic Botany," given by Mr. C. P. Nott, Assistant in Botany, 

 University of California. 



The University of Aberdeen of Scotland has been donated 

 £15,000 for the foundation of a garden to be known as the 

 Cruickshank Botanical Garden. James W. Trail, Professor of 

 Botany in the University, is ex-officio a member of the Board of 

 Trustees. 



