1896. ] Current Literature. 309 
“floras” by arbitrary state boundary lines, but probably that of West 
Virginia is as nearly natural as any bounded by state lines. The second 
publication? in the botanical series now being issued by the Field 
Columbian Museum deals with this flora. A brief introduction out- 
lines the botanical history of the state, the special features of the flora, 
and the forests. The list of species contains 2,584 numbers, 1,095 of 
which are thallophytes, among which there are 36 new fungi, 123 are 
bryophytes, 57 are pteridophytes, and 1,309 are spermatophytes. A 
host index and a list of local plant names conclude the paper. An in- 
teresting statement is that West Virginia has a greater amount of hard- 
Wood timber in its forests than any other state, and that probably two- 
thirds of the state is still covered by virgin forests. 
ATTENTION should have been earlier directed to the thesis of Miss 
Grace E, Cooley, presented to the University of Zurich for the doc- 
tor’s degree, entitled, “On the reserve cellulose of the seeds of Lilia- 
‘te and of some related orders,” and published in the Memoirs of the 
Boston Society of Natural History 5: 1-29. pl. 6. Jy. 1895 
Using the term “reserve cellulose” for the material deposited on the 
Walls of the endosperm cells, and not defining it chemically as Reiss 
lus done, Miss Cooley finds that it is present, to the exclusion of re- 
“ve starch, in the twenty-eight genera of Liliacez, Amaryllidacee, 
and Iridaces examined, with the exception of Paris and Trillium; 
that reserve cellulose is not identical microchemically with pure cellu- 
lose, Probably consisting of a ground substance identical in all (with 
the possible exception of Paris and Trillium) with which is associated 
other substances in small amount giving rise to the slight differences 
observed in behavior with reagents. In germination it is transformed 
nto oil (starch is only an end product) which is absorbed by the coty- 
ledon, It is laid down as a secondary product upon the walls soon 
after the endosperm is formed, beginning in the part near the chalaza. 
he angles thicken first and the sides later. Sugar and oil are present 
nthe cells before the reserve cellulose appears. 
- W. Catxins has published an account? of the lichens of 
s of papers concern- 
Mr. W 
Chicago 
ae Academy of 
ie and vicinity, this being the first of a serie 
ithe flora of Chicago to be published by the Chicago 
| Stiences, The author gives a brief account of lichens in general, under 
| *Mittspay LAWRENCE WILLIAM.— 
GH, CHARLES FrepErRIcK, and NUTTALL, os ical 
| sir of West Virginia, Field Columbian Museum, Pobe o sulesey, 
1896,” Vol. I, No. 2. Pp. 69-276, with plates and maps. 
*CaLxy : and vicinity. Bul- 
letin Wo NS Wittiam Wirt.—The lichen-flora of Chicago otal 
1g N° T of the Geol. and Nat. Hist. Surv. of the Chicago Acad. Sci. Ap 
