492 RECORD OF SCIENCE FOR 1887 AND 1888. 



and RMzocarpeci', aud coinmeuces tbe Uquisefncew. Each species is care- 

 iiilly illustrated. Underwood's "Our Ferns and their Allies" has now 

 reached a third edition. It describes about one hundred and sixty-five 

 species and several varieties of ferns as native of j^orth America, north 

 of Mexico. One of the most important additions to the " fern-allies" is 

 the genus Salvinia reported from Missouri. 



ANTHOPHYTA. 



The number of papers of more or less magnitude that have appeared 

 during the year are very great, and considerably in excess of the pro- 

 duction of most former years. In America, while most of the papers 

 have been short, many of them are of considerable value. 



The most extensive papers have been numbers xiv and XV of Watson's 

 "Contributions to American Botany." The first of these, issued in 

 1887, is largely taken up with a list of the plants selected by Dr. Ed- 

 ward Palmer in the State of Jalisco, Mexico, in 1886. The Gamopetalce 

 were determined by Dr. Gray; the Juncacacce and Cyperacece by Britton ; 

 the Graminem by Vasey, and the FUices, by Eaton. The whole collec- 

 tion includes about six hundred and seventy-five species, Avith a consid- 

 erable proportion of species new to science. The last part ot tlie paper 

 contains descriptions of over forty new species of American plants from 

 various localities. Part xv, issued May, '1888, contains an enumeration 

 of new American plants with revisions of LesquereUa (old Vesioaria) 

 and of the North American species of Draba. Of Braba, thirty-two 

 species and several varieties are described. It also contains descrip- 

 tions of over fifty new species of Mexican plants, chiefly collected by 

 Pringle in the mountains of Chihuahua, and descriptions of a few plants 

 of Guatemala. Gray's last paper, which was presented to the Academy 

 of Arts and Sciences after his death, by Watson, consists of notes upon 

 the Rufacew and Vifacea', the study of which he had taken up immedi- 

 ately on his return from his last European trip. 



The Smithsonian Institution has issued a second edition of Gray's 

 " Synoptical Flora of North America," Gtwiopetahv, which forms vol- 

 ume XXXI of its Miscellaneous Collections. In this form it is distribu- 

 ted to libraries and institutions of learning in all parts of the world, 

 as well as to many of its private correspondents, to whom it is known 

 that it would be of special value. 



Of the foreign works Hillebrand's "Flora of the Hawaiian Islands " is 

 one of the most extensive and valuable. Insular floras have always a 

 peculiar interest, and " few are more interesting than the Hawaiian 

 Islands. " The work describes 844 species of Phanerogams, belonging 

 to 335 genera, and 155 Pteridophytes, representing 80 genera, being a 

 total of 099 species. Of this number it is thought that 115 species have 

 been introduced since the discovery by Captain Cook in 1779, and 24 

 species by natives before this time. There remains 860 species as 

 original residents, of which nun:ber 653, or ov^^ 75 per cent., are endemic. 



