68 BOTANICAL GAZETTE. [ March, 
not our botanical books be always placed’ in connection vr the herbarium? 
When, for instance, vie pesiree a volume of the Prodromus, is it quite fair to ex- 
pect him to walk a er of a mile, or even to ae his special building for 
it? May this “gro ow he not wholly ineffectual ! 
Brown University, Providence, R. I. W. W. BaILey. 
Hypnum im Barberi. 
In a letter lately received from Mr. J. Cardob of Slenay, France, he says 
that Mr. Renauld has concluded that Hypnum Barberi Renauld, of which a 
description was published in the American Naturalist, vol. XVIII, shows be 
We ieley Colleg CLARA E. CuMMINGS. 
Dispersion of tree-seeds. 
own get een are confirmatory of Professor snore note in the Jan 
GazettE. I have long held the ‘opinion that the seeds of the birches ual 
larches, that here spring up so freely in an open field, are istribated chiefly eh 
ns of Br drifting snow, or rather by blowing ekaee the surface bey 
ria er J. Vroo 
St. Sisie, New Brunswick. 
Tumble-weeds. 
While speaking of “ tumble-weeds” other than those ot our own country, 
Dr. Bessey might have mentioned bi cur ious Crucifer, Anastatica Hierochun- 
eurl inwards ae form a globular mass which the wii uproot sod roll shots 
at their will. On being moistened the branches straighten and pe pods open. 
Undoubtedly this habit of “tumblin sil has been pelted by these different 
species to secure wider dissemi inatio 
Cambridge, Mass 
CURRENT LITERATURE. 
hes Gray, Dh of “seine America. Supplement and Indexes to Gamopetale. 
sa 
ae ‘his The p sah published in 1878, containing the Gamo- 
petal after ane ite. The embracing the Composite eneeeres in 1884. 
As some years must ela betere ; e whole work can be completed it became 
necessary to publish a supplement to contain additions and rection: This 
oO er pa n rst iss ‘ 
exhausted, the whole of Gamopetalie have been bound into a single volume, 
with such changes as can be made upon electrotype plates, containing also this 
— and new indexes. 
impossible to note with any fullness the changes proposed, when the 
Medi va pplemenit of 80 pages is devoted to nothing else. The point of chief 
interest tanists is that they can now obtain a single authoritative book 
ce) 
which brings up to date all our knowledge of the Gamopetale of North 
America, and that they can obtain it at a price so reasonable that no botanist 
‘he princip al changes naturally occur in the orders after it aires ite. An 
interesting addition to our flora is Littorella lacustris, discovered at several 
northern stations by our Canadian botanists and others. The recasting of 
