Miscellaneous Intelligence. 167 



it was left to be published from here. But meanwhile Dr. Parry, 

 the discoverer, thought best to bring out the genus in Southern 

 California, in Orcutt's "Western Scientist;" and so Tetracoccus 

 monoicas, Engelm. and Parry, was published while the Tetracoc- 

 cus (Engelmann) Engelmanni, Watson, was here in press. 



It should perhaps be here noted that there is a somewhat earlier 

 paper in the same (twentieth) volume of the Proceedings of the 

 American Academy of Arts and Sciences, by the present writer 

 (pp. 257-310), comprising A Revision of some Borragineous 

 Genera (Omphalodes, Krynitzkia, Plagiobotrys), Notes on some 

 American Species of Utricidaria, New Genera of Arizona, Cali- 

 fornia, etc., and Gamopetalw Miscellanem. A large share of the 

 latter, as also of Dr. Watson's Miscellaneas, are from the inter- 

 esting collections made last year by Mr. Pringle, with no small 

 hardship and suffering, along the frontiers between Arizona and 

 Sonora. This year Mr. Pringle, with his usual zeal and with 

 excellent prospects, undertook the exploration of the State of Chi- 

 huahua ; but when about to enter into the most alluring yet 

 hazardous field, that of the Sierra Madre Mountains, he was pros- 

 trated by a return of last year's fever, and has been obliged to 

 return home for recuperation. Let us hope that the air of his 

 native Vermont will soon restore him to wonted health, and to 

 the botanical explorations for which he is remarkably fitted, and 

 in which he bears the palm. A. g. 



5. Talks Afield about Plants and the Science of Plants, by L. 

 H. Bailey, Jr. (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1885, pp. 173, 

 12mo), are pleasant talks, well adapted to inspire an interest in 

 plants and botany, sensible and instructive in what is said, equally 

 sensible in the omission of the technical and recondite matters 

 which are too commonly crowded into books of this soi't. A. g. 



IY. Miscellaneous Scientific Intelligence. * 



1. Report of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 Professor Spencer F. Baird, for the year 1884. 98 pp., 8vo. — 

 The Smithsonian Institution has become a great center for the 

 collection and diffusion of knowledge. Considering the amount 

 of labor and investigation carried forward, the expenditure for 

 1884 appears very small — 43,613.36 dollars out of the total in- 

 come, which was 68,994.20 dollars. The explorations promoted 

 by the institution, which have in past time done more for " in- 

 creasing our knowledge of the physical condition and natural 

 history of various parts of the globe, especially on the continent 

 of America," than any other single agency in the land, were car- 

 ried on in 1884 partly in cooperation with the U. S. Signal 

 Service, the Geological Survey and the Fish Commission, in Green- 

 land, Labrador, Alaska, British Columbia and Washington Ter- 

 ritory, Arizona, New Mexico, Mexico, Central America, and other 

 regions. The quarto volume of the Smithsonian Contributions to 

 Knowledge, published during the year, is that of Dr. C. Rau on 



