Miscellaneous Intelligence. 263 



Ezra Michener, a physician, of Chester County, Pennsylvania, 

 born November 24, 1794, died June 25, 1887, in his 93d year. He 

 may have derived from Schweinitz his pi-edilection for Fungi, 

 which he cultivated at a time when few botanists of this country 

 knew or cared for them. A genus of Fungi bears the name of 

 this pioneer collector. 



Henry William Raveistel, who was born in Bei'keley District, 

 South Carolina, May 19, 1814, died at Aiken, in that State — 

 where he had long resided — on the 17th of July last. When we 

 first knew this kindly and excellent man, he was a planter, upon 

 an inherited estate in St. John's parish, a keen phanerogamous 

 botanist, and a prized correspondent. About 30 years ago he 

 removed to Aiken, in a higher and drier part of the State, now 

 celebrated as a winter health resort. About this time the Rev. 

 Dr. Curtis was well engaged in his notable Mycological career, 

 and Mr. Ravenel was his most zealous follower. So that it is 

 among the Mycologists that his name is most widely known at 

 home and abroad. He published five volumes of Fungi Carolini- 

 ani Fxsiccati, the sets of which are now rare and very valuable, 

 and in later years he largely contributed the principal materials 

 to the similar Fungi Americani Fxsiccati, edited by Cooke, of 

 London, in five centuries. He was for many years the botanist of 

 the State Board of Agriculture, and also an agricultural editor. 

 In 1859 he was joined to an IT. S. Commission to examine into the 

 cause of the cattle disease then prevalent in Texas. Deafness of 

 many years' standing secluded him much from the world at large, 

 and even from the social circles which he was most fitted to adorn. 

 " The war swept away nearly all of his property " — we recall to 

 mind a touching letter of adieu, when the secession of his State 

 took place, and his hopeful prospects in that connection — "but he 

 met his adversities with Christian fortitude and courage, doing 

 his duty faithfully to the end." A good number of species bear 

 his name, as well as the very peculiar genus of Uredinei, Rave- 

 nelia. In the Botanical Gazette for August last is an appreciative 

 notice of his life by Dr. Farlow, to which is appended a list of 

 eighteen papers which he published relating to various depart- 

 ments of botany. 



III". Miscellaneous Scientific Intelligence. 



1. Hariris Meteorological Atlas. — Twelve sheets of the new 

 edition of Berghaus's Physical Atlas are devoted to meteorology 

 under the editorship of Dr. Hann, of Vienna. These may be pur- 

 chased separately, and if kept unbound they will be found ex- 

 tremely useful as study- and lecture-charts for classes of moderate 

 size, as well as invaluable for reference in all matters of geogi-aphic 

 meteorology. The series of maps is remarkably full, including 

 isotherms and isobars, with winds, where well enough known, for 

 the year, January and July ; thermic isanomals for the same pe- 

 riod; Supan's chart of equal annual variations of temperature; 



