27 

 OPEN LETTEKS. 



Fritillaria plnriflora Torr. in Solano County. 



In going over those bills near the Sweeny Creek Gulch 

 (which is the Sweeny Creek of Peaceful Glen Valley), and on 

 the plains side of that hilly country, we found the first few 

 specimens. They were nothing extra ; but a little further on 

 I found some beauties, the largest that I ever saw. Some of 

 them surely had petals at least two inches from base to tip. 

 As we went on we found more, but none quite so large as 

 the others. But in the grain-belt the ground was pink with 

 thousands of their blossoms — the most in one locality, that I 

 ever saw. — E. H. Platt. 



Vacaville, California, February 23, 1898. 



Fritillaria pluriflora is a rare plant occuring on the Si- 

 erran side of the Sacramento Valley : Eeather River, Fre- 

 mont ; "In locis per tempus pluviorum inundatis, in valle 

 Sacramento," Hartweg, No. 258, collected without doubt in 

 Butte Co. In the Bay region the species has been obtained 

 only in north-western Solano Co. — W. L. J. 



NEWS NOTES AND CURRENT COMMENT. 



Messrs. Hy. Deane and J. H. Maiden have issued the second 

 part of their " Observations on the Eucalypts of New South 

 Wales" with illustrations by W. R. L. Baker. It appears as 

 a reprint from the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of 

 New South Wales, 1896," Part 4, Novem. 25. One new 

 species, E. fastigiata, is described and figured. 



The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University has been 

 presented with $20,000, the income of which is to be used in 

 scientific investigations on arboriculture. 



The first Fluckiger Gold Medal, to be granted once in 

 every five years for distinguished services in the promotion 



