BOTANY. 489 



linbitaiits of North Amorica, and also a list of all the species, with an 

 iiulicatioii ol' their liahitat. The: work is acicompanied by ten i)lates, 

 illustrating the spores of each genus as well other parts, such as 

 gonidia, apotheceine, spermogones, i)yenides, etc. The much-discussed 

 quest ion of the autonomy of Li(;hens still remains a mooted point. Thus 

 Willey, in the above paper, concludes that ''for the present and for 

 practical purposes the Lichen remains a Lichen," while Forssell, "Beitr. 

 z. Kennt. d. Anatomic u. Systematic d. Gloeslichtenen" (Nov. Act. Reg. 

 Soc. S(;ient. tlpsal, vili), describes a new family of the class Ascolicheus 

 with the goiiidia belonging to the Chroococcacetc, and Massee (Phil. 

 Trans., CLXXViii), under the name Gastrolichens, describes a form pro- 

 duced by the union of a fungus belonging to the order Trichogastres 

 with a uni cellular alga. Moller has furnished the results of the culti- 

 vation of Lichen-forming Ascomycetes without algre (Unters. Bot. 

 Inst. k. Akad, IMunster-in-Westfalen, 1887). Kecognizing the fact that 

 light on this subject can only be obtained by cultivating gonidia alone 

 or synthetically combining spores and gonidia, he has turned his atten- 

 tion to the culture of spores. Contrary to the common statement that 

 hyphai coming from germinating Lichen spores necessarily die in a short 

 time if gonidia are not supplied, he found that if germinated in a suit- 

 able culture medium the hyphre produced " small characteristic 

 thalli without any trace of gonidia whatever." These he had at the 

 time of writing kept alive three months, and although they had not 

 produced apothecia tliere were indications that these were being 

 formed. He also concluded that the spermatia are not male reproduc- 

 tive organs, as has been supposed by some. 

 Of the shorter papers Willey has described a new species (Dermatiscum 



Cafmcbanse) from (Torr. Bull., xiv) ; Knowlton has enumerated 



(Bot. Gaz. XIII) several species found attached to some of the stone idols 

 lately brought to the U. S. National Museum from the Easter Islands, 

 and Eckfeldt and Calkins have published a "Lichen Flora of Florida" 

 (Journ. ]\[icology's, III), enumerating three hundred and thirty species, a 

 few of which are new. Bonnier's "La Constitution des Lichens" (Journ» 

 d. Botanique, 1887) is an interesting paper. 



HEPATIC^. 



The distribution of the Italian species of Hepaticfe is considered by 

 Massalongo (Atti Congr. Naz. Bot. Critt., Parma, September, 1887), and 

 Underwood has written of some undescribed forms from California 

 (Bot. Gaz., xiii). He describes tive species that had been sent by Bo 

 lander in 18G6 to Dr. Gottsche but were never published. Goebel has 

 an interesting i)aper (Ann. Jard. Bot., Buitenzorg, vii), in which he 

 describes some curious appliances for storing water in the ei)iphytic 

 JungermanniciC of Java. Trabus has a paper in Eev. Bryol., 1887, 

 '^Mousses et IIepati(iues nouvelles d'Algerie." 



