264 
collected the latter for the first time in fruit on the coast of 
Porto Rico. The third species, i. Baillonis, was the only one 
of the American species, of w the flowers and fruit were 
well known, so made especially by the industrious work of the 
Danish botanists. 
other words, the recent explorations, carried on by the New 
York Botanical Garden in the West Indies have added such im- 
portant facts to the knowledge of these two genera of sub- 
mersed marine plants, that blossom and fruit wholly under water, 
that we can say that their life-history is now somewhat known. 
Thalassia testudinum is a very common plant on the coasts of 
Florida and the West Indies, often mistaken for the eel-grass 
(Zostera marina), and the others are not very rare, but the 
flowers and fruit have rarely been collected. 
A. RypBerc. 
EXPLANATION OF .THE PLATE. 
Thalassia testudinum. 
Fic. 1. Staminate plant with 2 peduncles (natural size). 
IG art of leaf of a sterile plant, collected in September 
nce. sige). 
Fic. 3. Staminate flower, with one sepal turned down (twice natural 
size, as are all the following figures 
Fic. 4. Young bud of staminate sowel 
Fic. 5. The same laid open. 
Fic, 6. Pistillate flower; spathe cut open on one side and one lobe turned 
back to show ovary; one of the sepals turned down to show the 12 stigmas. 
Fig, 7. Young fruit; one half of the spathe removed. 
CONFERENCE NOTES. 
The first regular monthly conference of the scientific staff and 
students of the New York Botanical Garden for this academic 
year met in the library on the afternoon of November 3. 
following is a synopsis of the programme rendered 
red J. Seaver called attention to Nectria Papilionacearum 
Seaver, a fungus which occurs on leaves of plants belonging to 
