39 
stimulus of the best growing seasons and resting during compara- 
tively dry or cool weather. The past season was unusually wet 
far into January, which was our good for 
ane aoe 
W. A. RILL, 
Assistant caer 
CONFERENCE NOTES. 
The regular monthly conference of the scientific staff and stu- 
dents of the Garden met on January 6 and was presided over by 
Neomeris, forms of marine, calcified, green algae which, partly 
from their small size and in part on account of the obscure places 
in which they grow, have been very little studied until compara- 
tively recent years. As is often the case with simpler forms of 
plant life, they were confused by the earlier writers with those of 
the animal kingdom, some of which they quite closely resemble 
in general appearance. Little is known of the details of repro- 
duction of these plants since these facts must be acquired b 
very close and careful study of the plants in their living condition 
and so far no one has found the time to carry on such observa- 
tions. It is thought, from analogy, that the spores which are pro- 
duced at the ends of the primary branches form sexual cells on 
germination, two of which must unite in order that a new indi- 
vidual may be produced, but these points have never been demon- 
strated with certainty. From the work of Dr. Howe, based on 
material collected by him in the West Indies and by others in the 
Pacific and Indian oceans, he has been able to work out six well- 
defined ie where but two were known to exist up to 1904. 
-Mrs. N. L. Britton outlined the results of her critical ee on 
some Aiectean mosses contained in the Pringle collection, display- 
ing some of the more interesting forms. As a result of this study 
several supposed species have been eliminated and of the one hun- 
dred and eighteen species examined ten are to be recorded as new. 
Mention was also made of the fact that two species of fossil moss 
