346 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 167. 



and North Pacific, though not with the At- 

 lantic. Admiral Sir William Wharton, Hy- 

 drographer to the Admiralty, said that an 

 Antarctic expedition must be under naval 

 discipline. He hoped such an expedition 

 would not be far off, and he felt sure there 

 would be rush of officers and men to join it. 

 Sir John Evans, in summing up, said the 

 discussion had maintained a high level. All 

 were agreed as to the immense advantages 

 of an expedition, and he was sure it would 

 find a warm advocate in the Hydrographer. 



ELLIS'S NORTH AMERICAN FUNGL 

 Twenty years ago Mr. J. B. Ellis, of 

 Newfield, N. J., began the distribution of a 

 most important series of volumes contain- 

 ing authentic specimens of the fungi of 

 North America. Many botanists have 

 availed themselves of the opportunity here 

 afforded of securing excellent specimens of 

 all groups of the fungi. For eight j'ears 

 Mr. Ellis worked alone, at the end of which 

 he had issued fifteen volumes ('centuries'), 

 each containing one hundred specimens. He 

 was then joined by Mr. B. M. Everhart, and 

 from this time the series bore the names of 

 both authors. The announcement is now 

 made that this work has been brought to a 

 close. 



The importance of being able to fix accu- 

 rately the date of publication of each of the 

 centuries is so great that the following state- 

 ment by Mr. Ellis is given for the benefit of 

 the readers of Science : Century I., Septem- 

 ber 6, 1878; II., April 15, 1879; III., Feb- 

 ruary 11, 1S80; IV., April 20, 1880; V., 

 January 28, 1881 ; VI. and VII., May 23, 

 1881 ; VIII. and IX., April 13, 1882 ; X. 

 and XL, April 26, 1883; XII. and XIII., 

 April 15, 1884 ; XIV. and XV., March 25, 

 1885 ; XVI. and XVII., March 16, 1886 ; 

 XVIII. and XIX., March 13, 1887; XX. 

 and XXI., March 23, 1888; XXII. and 

 XXIII., March 6, 1889; XXIV. and XXV., 



February 19, 1890; XXVI. and XXVII., 

 February 21, 1891; XXVIII., April 30, 

 1892; XXIX., March 2, 1893; XXX., 

 October 21, 1893 ; XXXI., April 18, 1894 ; 

 XXXII., November 26, 1894 ; XXXIII., 

 March 25, 1895; XXXIV., February 3, 1896; 

 XXXV., December 16, 1896 ; XXXVI., 

 February 1, 1898. 



In regard to the foregoing Mr. Ellis says; 

 " The dates on this sheet are the dates on 

 which the centuries were sent to Charles 

 E. Bessey. Usually when a century (or 

 oftener two centui-ies) was ready only three 

 or four were sent each day, so that some 

 subscribers received their copies at a later 

 date than others — -from one to three weeks 

 in some cases." 



As to the number of copies of each cen- 

 tury issued Mr. Ellis says : " I am not sure 

 just how many copies of Century I. were 

 issued, but I think there were thirty-five. 

 The number was afterwards increased to 

 forty, and then to fifty, and from Century 

 XVII., to sixty." There were thus about 

 two hundred thousand specimens in this 

 great work. What wonder that the author 

 upon whom the greater part of the labor 

 has fallen should wish rest. 



This notice would be incomplete without 

 a reference to the part taken by Mrs. Ellis 

 in the preparation of the volumes. The 

 writer recalls a pleasant letter from Mr. 

 Ellis shortly after the distribution began^ 

 in which he spoke of the fact that Mrs. 

 Ellis now bound the books, and that they 

 were better and neater than those of Cen- 

 tury I., which came from a professional 

 binder. From that time her hands made 

 all the books (about two thousand), folded 

 most of the papers for the specimens, and 

 pasted the packets into the books. 



While the distribution known as the 

 ' North American Fungi ' now comes to an 

 end, the authors will continue for a time 

 their second edition under the name of 

 ' Fungi Columbiani.' This was begun in 



