150TANY. 489 



habitants of Nortli Aiucrica, and also a list of all tlio species, with an 

 in<li(;ation of their lial»i(al, Tiie woik is accompanied by ten plates, 

 illustrating" the si)ores of each <;t'nus as well other parts, such as 

 ^'onidia, apotlieceine, sperniogones, }>yc'nidcs, etc. The much-discussed 

 question of the autonomy of Lichens still remains a mooted point. Thus 

 AVilley, in the above ])aper, concludes that '' for the present and for 

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

 z. Jvennt. d. Anatomic u. Systematic d. Gloesliclitenen" (Nov\ Act. Keg. 

 Soc. Scient. Ui)sal, vili), describes a new family of the class Ascolicliens 

 with the gonidia belonging to the Ohroococcacea^, 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 alga? (Unt<^rs. Bot. 

 Inst. k. Akad. JNEunster-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 hyplue 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 there were indications that these were being 

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

 tive organs, as has been sui)posed by some. 

 Of the shorter i)apers Willey has described a new species {Dermatincum 



Catau'banse) from (Torr. Bull., xiv); Knowlton has enumerated 



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

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

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

 (Journ. Micology's, III), enumerating three hundred and thirty species, a 

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

 d. I'otanicpie, 1887) is an interesting paper. 



HEPATIC^i:. 



The distribution of the Italian species of Hepaticjc is considered by 

 Massalongo (Atti Congr. Naz. Bot. Critt., Parma, September, 18S7), and 

 Underwood has written of some undescribed forms from California 

 (Bot. Gaz., XIII). He describes five species that had been sent by Bo 

 lander in 1800 to Dr. Gottsche but were never published. Goebel has 

 an interesting i)a[)er (Ann. Jard. Bot., Buitenzorg, Vii), in whicdi he 

 describes some curious ai)i)liances for storing water in the epiphytic 

 Jungermaunica? of Java. Trabus has a paper in Kev. Bryol., 1887, 

 '* Mousses et Uci)ati(iues nouvelles d'Algerie." 



