( 46) 
During the latter part of the year Dr. W. A. Murrill, Assist- 
ant Curator, was appointed to the position formerly held by Mr. 
Earle. During the summer Dr. Murrill collected extensively 
in the mountains of Virginia and Tennessee. Upon his re- 
turn the specimens collected were determined, classified and 
listed. About a thousand specimens sent from all parts of 
the country have been determined and reported upon by Dr. 
Murrill. He has brought together all the available notes and 
references to the North American species of polypores, and 
has devoted considerable attention to the study and publica- 
tion of the Polyporaceae of North America. Several papers 
of a continued series treating this subject have already been 
printed, and others are nearly completed. He has also 
begun to print in Torreya a series of keys to the species 
of polypores occurring in the United States and Canada, and 
has prepared a list of polypores occurring in the Philippines 
and adjacent regions with a view to determining more fully 
the important collections of recent explorers in that region. 
Mrs. Britton has continued her voluntary aid, especially in 
reference to the development of the moss collections, and has 
supervised the mounting and distributing of specimens, as 
well as taking charge of the naming of the mosses. She has 
made a comparative study of the collections of mosses from 
southern peninsular Florida with those of Cuba and the 
Bahamas, preliminary to publication. Many of these speci- 
mens are of her own collecting, as she has accompanied Dr. 
Britton on his trips of exploration and assisted in gathering 
specimens, particularly of mosses, and hepatics, lichens and 
fungi. She has published notes on various genera of mosses 
in The Bryologist, and short notes in Torreya, and acted as 
secretary of the Wild Flower Preservation Society of Amer- 
ica, taking charge of the distribution of the reprints of the 
prize essays published by the aid of the Stokes Fund, and 
has supplied the Plant World with short notes. 
Professor Underwood has voluntarily cared for the ferns 
and fern-allies, and has brought nearly all of the specimens 
of the large collection of these plants into uniform order. 
