NOTELETS. 



THE PRICE OP BOUDIER'S PLATES. Since our article, page 251, has 

 been in type, we learn that the publisher has for the third time advanced the 

 price and that now the price is two hundred francs for the first series, and one 

 hundred and eight}- francs for subscription to each of the forthcomiug series. 

 We feel that this is a mistake, but as there are now only about a dozen sub- 

 scribers needed to insure the continuance of the work, we are confident the 

 short-sighted policy of the publisher will not result in the untimely death of the 

 undertaking. Boudier's plates are so far superior to any similar series, and are 

 produced in such a superb manner that their very excellence will carry them to 

 a successful finish. The failure to complete the issue would be an irretrievable 

 loss to mycology, and should it occur there will be no trouble or hesitation in 

 placing the responsibility for the failure. 



PROFESSOR FARLOW'S STAND ON NOMENCLATURE. We strongly 

 endorse (and we think the principle is generally endorsed now-a-days) Pro- 

 fessor Farlow's position of opposition to unearthing " old corpses " to supplant 

 live names. But we carry the principle further. We do not believe in exhibit- 

 ing these old remains when others dig them up. When Professor Farlow 

 exhibits "Lycoperdon stellatum, Scop." in its juggled form " Astraeus stellatus 

 (Scop.) Fischer," we are moved to remark that " Lycoperdon stellatum " is 

 indeed a very ancient corpse that lay for more than a hundred years in an 

 unmarked grave until it was recently dug up in Europe. Furthermore that 

 " Lycoperdon stellatum, Scop." never was a respectable corpse, for it never had a 

 corporeal existence, and that "Lycoperdon stellatum, Linn." was such a mis- 

 shapen production that it died in infancy. It is unfortunate that Professor Fischer 

 used it as he is not the man to dig up corpses on principle, and is not the 

 excavator of this one, and we feel that he merely made a careless slip such as we 

 believe Professor Farlow has made in following him. 



CAN SUCH THINGS BE? We have just received from Dr. Mary S. 

 Whetstone, not only an unknown species, but we think an unknown genus of 

 Gastromycetes, collected in the vicinity of Minneapolis. Had we received it from 

 central Africa, we should not have been surprised, but it is difficult to believe 

 that such things exist in Minnesota. Professor Patouillard is as much interested 

 in studying the specimen as I am, for it seems to have the structure partly of a 

 Polysaccum, but more largely of a Phelloriua. It is needless to say it will be 

 further considered in Mycological Notes. 



LASIOSPHAERA FENZLII IN JAPAN. We have received from Professor 

 Atsushi Yasuda, Sendai, Japan, a specimen of Lasiophaera Fenzlii, which is 

 the first time the plant has ever been recorded except from British India and 

 Ceylon. It is a " giant puff ball," and may be taken for Calvatia gigantea (Cfr. 

 Myc. Notes, p. 191 and plate 19). This specimen is young and has subhyaline 

 capillitiutn but I think it would become colored when ripe. The threads of the 

 Japanese plant are somewhat broader than the Ceylon form and both are 

 septate, a fact I overlooked in drawing the description on page 191. 



MITREMYCES IN NEW CALEDONIA. Professor Patouillard has re- 

 ceived a specimen of Mitremyces from New Caledonia, thus extending the geo- 

 graphical limits of this genus. The species is not decided, but it is not 

 Mitremyces fuscus, the only species known from Australia, and which might be 

 expected to grow in New Caledonia. 



THE NOMENCLATURE QUESTION. We have looked in vain in our 

 American journals for a report of what was done at Vienna the past summer on 

 the " Nomenclature Question." We think, however, it was really immaterial, for 

 past history is that botanical congresses meet and make "laws," and then each 

 one of the members who aided in making these laws goes home and does what 

 he pleases, just the same as before the laws were made. 



259 



