BOTANICAL GAZETTE, val 
In Scrence Gossrp for January, W. B. Grove gave some “ Notes on Yeast- 
Fungi,” being a translation from Dr. Winter’s edition of the “ Kryptogamen- 
Flora,” with notes by the translator. Twelve species are described and figured. 
CrxcHona LEDGERIANA has been having quite an airing in the Journal of 
Botany, the last number adding still another to the long list of papers on the 
-subject. The editor probably voices the wish of all his constituency when he 
brackets at the close of the article these words: “This discussion is now 
clos : si 
ed.—Ep Journ. Bor,’ 
Tur “Funaus Forays” of the Natural History societies of Britain were not 
so successful last season as usual, owing to unfavorable weather and a scarcity 
of specimens. Probably the most interesting item was the finding of thirty-four 
species of Cortinarius in the vicinity of Hereford, during a four days gathering 
of the Woolhope Field Club. 
Iv seems THAT Spheria Coulteri, Peck, collected in 1872 near Yellowstone 
Lake, turns out to be the representative of a new genus, which Professor Sac- 
cardo describes in the Torrey Bulletin for December, and names Neopeckia, thus 
-associating Professor Charles H. Peck’s name with that, of the writer in a way 
that is very pleasant to the latter. 
LIGNIFICATION HAS HERETOFORE been supposed to be confined to internal 
tissues, but A. Lemaire shows (Ann. Sci. Nat. xv, p. 297) that the epidermal 
cell walls may undergo this change. A section of the epidermis, transferred 
from an alcoholic solution of phloroglucin to hydrochloric acid, has its ligni- 
fied parts colored a beautiful rose-red. 
Iw 1882 Mr. A. SrepHEN Witson published an account of the discovery of — 
certain bodies found in potato leaves, which he claimed to be sclerotia of - 
ytopthora infestans, which view Mr. Plowright accepted. In the December 
Journal of Botany, Mr. Murray and Dr. Flight publish the results of an investi- 
gation of specimens furnished by Mr. Wilson, which go to show that the so- 
called sclerotia are merely masses of oxalate of lime. 
HEOKEL GIvEs an account in the Bulletin of the Société géogr. de Marseille of 
the African nut called Kola. It is the product of a tree belonging to the order 
Stereuliacece of which the chocolate tree of tropical America is a member. the 
chemical composition of the two fruits is much alike. Kola is very highly es- 
teemed by the African tribes, often bringing its weight in gold-dust, and in 
Periods of scarcity a slave being required for a single nut. 
: YRoN D. Haxtstep, in Science for Jan. 11, contends for the use of italics 
In printing scientific names, which does not accord with the practice in that 
-periodical, nor the views of its editor. Science is a radical in the use of type, 
and some of the changes introduced seem not a little absurd to those acoustomed 
to a very different order of things. In reference to the use of italics for scientific 
Ramee, however, the writer has found its greatest convenience in the saving of 
time. Such names are thus made catch-words, and a glance down a page re- 
veals the species spoken of and invites either to skipping or a closer reading. 
ae 
