222 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [ SEPTEMBER 
remain in this state till the approach of a new cell-division determines a 
fresh growth of their substance. According to this view the linin is the 
transmitter of inherited properties, and the chromatin has a purely mechan- 
ical function in karyokinesis.”-— J. M. C 
ITEMS OF TAXONOMIC INTEREST are as follows: In his treatment of 
the Umbelliferee (Engler and Prantl Mat. Pfanzenfam.) Drude proposes the 
new genus 7enidia, based upon Pimpinella integerrima Gray (3° : 195); 
and reduces Berula to a subgenus under Sivm. (3° : 195).—W. P. Hiern has 
described (Jour. Bot, 36 : 289-291. 1898) two new genera of Composite from 
Welwitsch’s African collection: Pseudotrichia, an asteroid form; and 
Adenogonum, a genus which does not accord with any of the recognized 
tribes, but is thought to be an aberrant senecioid form.— James Britten (Jour. 
Bot. 36 : 297-302) has been examining the types, mostly in the Banksian her- 
barium, of plants described in Smith’s “History of the rarer lepidopterous 
insects of Georgia”’ (1797), and publishes his conclusions in reference to six 
species, which have considerable bearing upon their synonymy.— The Budle- 
tin of Miscellaneous Information, issued by the Royal Botanic Gardens of 
Trinidad, continues its publication of the pteridophytes of the British West 
Indies and Guiana. The current one (no. 15) presents the genera Alsophila 
(14 spp.), Hemetelia (15 spp.), and Cyathea (25 spp.).— Thomas H. Kearney 
has published (Bulletin 11, Division of Agrostology) a revision of the North 
American species of Calamagrostis, recognizing thirty-eight species north of 
Mexico, eleven of which are new. The revision also contains a very inter- 
esting section upon the ecology of the group.—In the same bulletin F. Lam- 
son-Scribner describes and illustrates, with seventeen plates, twenty-eight 
new species of grasses. New species are added to Elymus (5), Poa (5), Pani- 
cum (4), Sporobolus (3), Stipa (3), Agropyron (2), and six other genera.— 
George V. Nash has published (Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 25 : 432-450. 1898) 4 
revision of Chloris and Eustachys in North America. Although often united 
“ two sections of a single genus, the author regards them as worthy of gen- 
eric separation. Ten species of Chloris are recognized, two of which are 
new, and four species of Eustachys.— E. O. Wooton continues (Bull. Torr. 
Bot. Club a5 : 451-459. 1898) his descriptions of miscellaneous new plants 
from New Mexico, the last fascicle adding species to ten genera.—J. M. oF 
