1889. I BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 159 



was made, some time ago, between the Secretary of Agriculture and the 

 Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, by which the botanical collec- 

 tions of the Department of Agriculture and the botanical collections of 

 the Smithsonian Institution in the National Museum were practically 

 united to constitute the National Herbarium, and were placed under the 

 care of the botanist of the Department of Agriculture. There is no pres- 

 ent transfer of the herbarium of this department, but whenever the 

 Smithsonian Institution secures a new fire-proof building, special pro- 

 vision will be made for bringing the two collections together. 



The appropriation for herbarium work has been increased and valu- 

 able collections of plants are now being made in various parts of the 

 country. We hope in time to make the herbarium worthy of the name 

 of National. At the same time we hope to form such relations with the 

 agricultural colleges of the country as will be for mutual benefit. We 

 hope also, through exchanges, to enlarge our representation of foreign 

 plants. We shall be glad of the aid of botanists throughout the country 

 in the way of donations or exchanges of desirable plants, especially of 

 those of distant or unexplored sections. Geo. Vasev. 



Washington, D. C. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



Geo. R. Vasey is collecting in E. Washington Terr, for the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. 



This year is the centennial of the introduction of the chrysanthe- 

 mum into Europe and of the dahlia into England. 



An endeavor is being made to establish a fund f r the promotion 

 of botanical research in memory of the late Dr. Leitgeb of Grnz. 



A BIOOBAPHTOAL sketch of the late Ernst Rudolph von Trautvetter, 

 by F. G. von Herder, has just been published in the Rtonm-hea Central- 

 blait. 



A specimen of Podophyllum hat been received from John M. Snider 

 of Dayton, Ohio, which consists of a flowering stem without leaves or leat 

 scars, and also has the stamens united. 



Mr. J. Reynolds Vai/.ey, of Cambridge University, England,* young 

 botanist of much promise, is dead. Some of his best writings appeared 



in the first volume of the Annals of Botany. 



A short article on potato scab, giving a resume of present known 

 facts, is contributed by Prof. Jas. E. Humphrey to the sixth Annual Ke- 

 port of State Agric. Expr. Station at Amherst, Mass. 



Dr. Antoine Mougeot, a well-known cryptogamic botanist of F™ n< ;f - 

 died Februarv 20, at 74 years of age. He was one of the charter mem- 

 bers and the first secretary of the SoeiUi Mycdogique de trance. 



Dr. C. F. MlLLSPAUGH is publishing a series of articles on our native 

 medicinal plants in the Homeopathic Recorder. The recent i numbers con- 

 tain plates and descriptions of Epiphegus Virginiana and Viburnum up- 

 ul us. 



Dr. Sere no Watson was elected a member of the National Academy 



of Sciences at the recent meeting in Washington. The number o! mem- 



, bers is now one hundred, the limit tixed by the laws of the Academy, al- 

 though never before attained. 



