60 



The annual meeting and exhibition of the Horticultural Society 

 of New York was held at the Museum of the New York Botan- 

 ical Garden, May 8 and 9. Prizes to the amount of $700 were 

 offered, S500 by the Botanical Garden and $200 by the Horti- 

 cultural Society. 



Mr. George V. Nash has returned from the Royal Gardens at 

 Kew with about 1,300 species of living plants for the New York 

 Botanical Garden. Through the courtesy of Sir W. T. Thiselton- 

 Dyer, the Director of the Royal Gardens, further consignments 

 are expected in the near future. 



The report of Prof. Charles H. Peck, State Botanist of New 

 York, for the year 1899, has recently been distributed. In ad- 

 dition to the other matter, it contains as usual an important con- 

 tribution to the knowledge of our fleshy fungi. Vol. 3, No. 4, 

 of the Memoirs of the New York State Museum, a quarto volume 

 containing descriptions and illustrations of the edible and un- 

 wholesome fungi of New York — the second volume of the series — 

 was issued at about the same time. 



Thomas Conrad Porter, D.D., LL.D., Emeritus Professor of 

 Botany in Lafayette College, died suddenly at Easton, Pa., on 

 April 27th, in the 80th year of his age. He was well known as 

 a botanist, especially by his contributions to our knowledge of 

 the flora of Colorado and of Pennsylvania. He won distinction 

 in the literary field also, being the first to call attention to the re- 

 semblance between " Hiawatha " and the Finnish epic Kalevala, 

 and writing several well-known translations of German poems. 



The Departmental Committee on Botanical Work and Collec- 

 tions at the British Museum and at Kew has recently reported 

 to the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, in part 

 as follows : "That the whole of the botanic collections at the 

 British Museum now administered by the Keeper of the Depart- 

 ment of Botany under the Trustees, with the exception of the 

 collections exhibited to the public, be transferred to the Royal 

 Botanic Gardens, Kew, and placed in the charge of the First 

 Commissioner of His Majesty's Works and Public Buildings under 

 conditions indicated below, adequate accommodations being there 

 provided for them." 



