40 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 784 



locality where flowering jjlants have ever been 

 found, while another is from Etah, the most 

 northern habitation of man. 



Since tiie subject of mosses was the principal 

 topic of the liour, Dr. Murrill referred briefly to 

 the genus Diciyolus, the species of which are 

 found on living mosses. This genus belongs to 

 the Chanterleffi, a tribe of gill-fungi, and there 

 are only two species known in North America, 

 D. muscigenus, occurring from Greenland to South 

 Carolina, and D. retirugus, known from Green- 

 land, Alaska, Minnesota and California. Both 

 species are small and thin, grayish or brownish 

 in color and have folded-like gills. D. muscigenus 

 may be recognized by its distinct stipe and dicho- 

 tomous gills, while D. retirugus is sessile or sub- 

 sessile with branched, reticulate gills. 



Dr. N. L. Britton spoke of the three genera of 

 Caetaceae, Garnegiea, Pachycerens and Cephalo- 

 cereus, and showed specimens of their flowers. 

 The genus Garnegiea, dedicated to Mr. Andrew 

 Carnegie and formerly known as Oereus giganteus, 

 consists of a single species. Some of these plants 

 attain a height of sixty feet and branch at from 

 twelve to twenty feet above the ground. The 

 flowers are funnelform with a nearly cylindric 

 tube, bearing a few broad triangular scales. 

 Pachycereus blooms at a diflferent season from 

 Garnegiea and the perianth tube is clothed with 

 woolly hairs and bristles. 



Gephalocereus, which has many representatives 

 in the West Indies and some in Mexico, derives 

 its name from the fact that the top of the plant 

 is hairy. At Key West, Florida, there is a colony 

 of Gephalocereus keyenses which is related to 

 some of the Cuban and Bahaman species. It is the 

 only locality where this species is known to exist. 

 As it is growing here on a government reservation, 

 it will most likely be preserved. 



Mr. Roland M. Harper told of his experiences 

 in the south from July, 1908, to July, 1909. A 

 few weeks were spent at the Biltmore Forest 

 School, North Carolina. Specimens were observed 

 here of Helonias hullata and Dalibarda repens 

 which are not listed in Small's " Flora of the 

 southeastern United States." The former was re- 

 ported several years ago by F. E. Boynton, while 

 the latter was first noticed by Dr. Homer D. 

 House. 



Six weeks were spent in Georgia, particularly 

 in the vicinity of Pine Mountains and among the 

 sand-hills of the fall line region, where he found 

 GJiamwcyparis thyoides which has not previously 

 been reported from the state. Specimens of 



Chrysopsis pinifoUa, discovered by Elliott in 1815, 

 and known only from one county, were collected, 

 and also a twining Bartonia. Together with a 

 party of geologists, Mr. Harper made a trip of 

 260 miles on the Warrior and Tombigbee rivers 

 in Alabama, which occupied a period of ten days. 

 Here he collected an Equisetmn which resembles 

 E. arvense, but is several hundred miles out of 

 the range of that species. While in Florida study- 

 ing peat for the state geological survey, he found 

 several interesting plants, Spartina Bakeri, which 

 is very common but not mentioned in any flora, 

 and an arborescent Sereiioa serrulata, some plants 

 of which attained a height of ten feet, and an 

 undescribed species of Prunus. Mr. Harper ex- 

 plored the southern end of the everglades, follow- 

 ing about the same route as that taken by Dr. 

 Britton in 1904 and Dr. Small in January of this 

 year. 



Dr. Southwick reported the finding of Viola 

 pedata in flower, October 25. 



The meeting of November 9, 1909, was held at 

 the American Museum of Natural History with 

 Vice-president Barnhart in the chair. Eighty- 

 nine persons were present. 



The scientific program of the evening consisted 

 of a talk by Dr. Marshall A. Howe on " Some 

 Floral and Scenic Features of Porto Rico." This 

 was a semi-popular account of some of the more 

 striking features of the native and introduced 

 flora of the island and was illustrated by about 

 a hundred lantern slides, some of which showed, 

 incidentally, many interesting topographic and 

 scenic details of the Porto Rican mountains and 

 sea-coast. Special attention was given to the 

 native palms and their economic uses. The photo- 

 graphs shown included, also, several of the cacti, 

 which are much in evidence in certain places along 

 the southern shore of Porto Rico and on the adja- 

 cent island of Culebra. In striking contrast with 

 the xerophj'tic vegetation of the southern slopes 

 are the mesophytic forests, now, unhappily, of 

 very limited extent, on two or three of the highest 

 mountains. The soil of the island is or has been 

 very nearly all under cultivation, but in addition 

 to the two or three comparatively small forested 

 areas there are, here and there, in various parts 

 of the island, roclcy hills where the native vegeta- 

 tion may be found under very nearly natural con- 

 ditions. The sugar, coffee and tobacco industries 

 were also discussed and illustrated by the speaker. 

 Percy Wilson, 



Secretary 



