THE WEST-AHEBICAN SCIEl^TIST. 



31 



Granting then what is unavoid- 

 able, the liability to modification 

 of the Clun'izanthoid perianth in 

 the way of reduction and partial 

 obsoletion, coupled with the re- 

 markable persistence of the invo- 

 iucral characters, and the abote 

 view removes at once the anoma- 

 lous features of the species, and 

 fulfills all the desirable systematic 

 conditions. 



On the other hand, the previa 

 ously received view involves much 

 more serious and insuperable dif- 

 Hculties, placing this otherAvise 

 well characterized plant entirely 

 out of analogy with all other allied 

 Eriogonous genera in the entire ab- 

 sence of an involucre, either in 

 the usual form of a segmented 

 Avhorl or as a simple bracteate 

 floral appendage; assuming more- 

 over that a perianth which in all 

 other allied species has certain 

 fixed characteristics, only subject 

 to reduced modification of parts, 

 but never of structure, can take 

 the puzzling form of an ordinary 

 involucre! 



When such irreconcilable facts 

 are once fairly i^laced by the side 

 of a more natural and simple ex- 

 planation, the question of choice 

 cannot long remain doubtful. 



Kew, England, November, 1884. 



The Bulletin of the California 

 Academy of Sciences, No. 3, Feb- 

 ruary, 1885, has been received 

 and contains much of botanical 

 interest from the pens of Rev. E. 

 L. Greene, Mrs. Mary K. Curran, 

 and H. W. Harkness, the latter 

 on fungi. H. H. Behr contributes 

 to the literature on lepidoptera in 

 descriptiojis of new species, etc. 



GONTEMPORART JOURNALS. 



The American Monthly Micro- 

 scopical Journal, Romyn Hitch- 

 cock, editor and publisher, Wash- 

 ington, Dv C, 81 i^er year. AVith 

 this well established i>eriodical 

 and the journal of tlie New York 

 ]\[icrosCopical Society^ the micro- 

 scopist can keep well posted on 

 the neAVS in the various depart- 

 ments. 



Mind in Nature^ a popular 

 monthly journal of psycliical, med- 

 ical and scientific inftu-mation, is 

 announced to be published the 

 first of every mouth, by the Cos- 

 mic Publishing Company of Chi- 

 cago, at §1 per year. Its object 

 is to furnish, in a popular man- 

 ner, information iiegai-diug psjneh- 

 rc;U questions, the relations of 

 mind to the body, etc. 



The Mining Review of Chicago, 

 is the leading raining journal of 

 the United States, published 

 weekly at S3 per year. 



Prof. W. G. Farlow delivered a 

 very interesting popular lecture 

 on marine algie, under the auspi- 

 ces of the San Diego Society of 

 Natural History, tlie evening of 

 March 26. 



Mr. Joseph Surr, i^ecently of 

 London, gave the fifth lecture of 

 i the course under the same auspi- 

 ces, to a large audience, the even- 

 ing of March 30, on "A W^alk in 

 London." 



This paper is usually issued on 

 or near the fifteenth of each 

 month. 



