BOTANY. 319 



marks on the ijrothallus of Salvinia natans. Goebel, in tlie Botanische 

 Zeitung, mentions a peculiar formation of shoots on leaves of I.soetes. 



In Characece we have to notice the apjiearance of Characecv America me 

 in two fasciculi by Dr. T. F. Allen, including Chara gymnopus var. ele- 

 gans^ A. Br. and C. crinita var. americanu, of which descriptions and 

 colored plates are given. The proceedings of the Boston Society of 

 Natural History contain a jjaper by B. D. Halsted on the Classification 

 and Description of the American Species of (Jkaracecc. The systematic 

 position of the Characew was discussed by S. H. Vines in a paper in the 

 Journal of Botany entitled The Pro-embryo of Chara, and he considers 

 that the order forms an independent group intermediate between the 

 Carposporem and the Musdnew. » 



PH^NOGAMS. 



Among the descriptive works on North American plants may be men, 

 tioned Reports upon the Botanical Collections made in portions of Nevadu, 

 Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona during the years 1871-'75, by J. T. 

 Eothrock. The work forms a part of the reports on the geological sur- 

 veys west of the 100th meridian made under the charge of Lieut. G. M. 

 Wheeler, and is a large quarto, with finely executed plates by Sprague. 

 lu the elaboration of special orders and genera. Professor Eothrock was 

 assisted by the following gentlemen : S. Watson, George Engelmann, 

 T. C. Porter, M. S. Bebb, William Boott, George Vasey, D. C. Eaton, 

 T. P. James, and Edward Tuckermann. The descriptive portion of the 

 work is preceded by notes on the general character of the vegetation of 

 Colorado and New Mexico and notes on the economical properties of a 

 number of species. The botanical contributions of Prof. A. Gray consist 

 of two papers x)ublished in the Proceedings of the American Academy 

 of Arts and Sciences; Characters of some new species of Compositw in the 

 Mexican collection made by C. C. Parry and Edward Palmer, chiefly in 

 the Province of San Luis Potosi in 1878 ; and Some new North Ameri<mn 

 genera, species, &c. The new genera are Sulsdorfia, from the Columbia 

 Eiiver, and Howellia, from Oregon. In the same Proceedings are two 

 ])apers by Mr. Sereno Watson : Revision of the North American Liliaeete 

 and Descriptio7i of some New Species of North American Plants. In the 

 last-named paper, which includes the new genus Hollisteria, the species 

 described are principally from the west coast and from Florida, the 

 greater part having been collected by Dr. E. Palmer. Besides the 

 papers above named, there has api)eared a number of shorter papers 

 and notes in the different journals, among which may be enumerated 

 Notes on Baptisia, by W. M. Canby, in the Botanical Gazette ; Notes on 

 Vitis, by Dr. George Engelmann, and Ballast Plafits in New York City, by 

 Addison Brown, in the Bulletin of the Torrey Club ; Colorado Plants, 

 by I. C. Martindale, in the American Naturalist; and Catalogue of the 

 Phmnogamous and vascular Cryptogamous Plants collected in Dakota and 



