179 



He was deeply interested in the establishment of the New York 

 Botanical Garden, and many of his photographic studies were 

 made from plants obtained there. Since the establishment of the 

 Garden lecture courses, in the spring and autumn, the beauty of 

 his lantern slides has been frequently admired by audiences as- 

 sembled at the Museum Building, and his lectures have been 

 among the most successful of any there delivered. He has fol- 

 lowed the development of the Garden very closely, and since 1901 

 has been officially connected with it as honorary floral photog- 

 rapher. In addition to the organizations named above, he was 

 a member of the New York Academy of Sciences, the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Mu- 

 seum of Natural History, the Brooklyn Institute, the American 

 Forestry Association, the New York Horticultural Society, the 

 American Geographical Society, the Union League Club, and 

 the Holland Society. He was of a genial and kindly tempera- 

 ment, a delightful companion, full of information on all scientific 

 topics, and his loss is deeply felt by all who have been favored 

 with his acquaintance. His work, and that of his faithful and 

 devoted wife, are commemorated in the beautiful Polemonhim Van 

 Bruntiae, which grows in the Catskill region which he loved so 

 well, and where he spent a portion of each year. Mr. Van Brunt 

 leaves no descendants. 



EXPLOSIVE DISCHARGE OF ANTHEROZOIDS IN 



HEPATICAE 



By F. Cavers, F.L.S. 



In a recent number of Torreya (April, 1903), there appeared 

 an interesting note by Dr. Cyrus A. King on the explosive dis- 

 charge of antherozoids in Conocepliahnn conicum {Fegatella contra), 

 in which reference was made to previously published accounts of 

 a similar phenomenon in Asterella Californica by Dr. Peirce and 

 in Conocepliahnn by the present writer. At the time of writing 

 the note which appeared in the Annals of Botany, January, 1903, 

 I was not aware of any previous accounts of such discharges, 



