Miscellaneous Intelligence. 493 



form the second edition of what is generally known as Raben- 

 horstfs Kryp>togamen-Flora. On the death of Dr. G. Winter, by 

 whom was written the volume including Uredinese, Ustilaginese, 

 Basidiomycetes and Pyrenomycetes, the work on the orders of 

 fungi was continued by Dr. Rehm, whose account of the Dis- 

 comycetes is now completed in 20 parts, of which the first 

 appeared in 1887. The full Index, prepared by Dr. Pazschke, 

 forms an additional part. The number of species described is 

 6023, the last of the series being the American Dermatea aceri- 

 cola, which has lately been found in Saxony and Switzerland. 

 The work of Dr. Rehm shows a vast amount of labor and erudi- 

 tion, involving the examination of authentic specimens of Dis- 

 comycetes from all parts of the world. The different volumes of 

 the Kryptog amen- Flora, although all valuable, vary very much 

 in the method of presentation of the subject. In some, especially 

 that on higher cryptogams, there is such an excess of details that 

 the reader is embarrassed rather than helped thereby. Dr. Rehm 

 has arranged his material admirably. The descriptions are clear, 

 neither too condensed nor too diffuse, and the copious notes are 

 especially valuable to American mycologists since they contain 

 references to American species related to those of Europe. The 

 limits of genera are drawn less easily in Discomycetes than in 

 some other orders of fungi, and the difficulty was all the greater 

 in the present case, because a considerable number of species 

 formerly generally placed in lichens, but in reality having no 

 gonidia, have been regarded by Dr. Rehm as fungi and incorpor- 

 ated with other Discomycetes. w. g. e. 



11. Phycotheca B 'or •eali- Americana /*by F. S. Collins, Isaac 

 Holden and W. A. Setchell. — The fourth fascicle of this valua- 

 ble series has recently been issued and maintains the excellent 

 character of the earlier numbers. The striking feature of the 

 present fascicle is the considerable number of species of Batra- 

 chospermum represented ( by very well-prepared specimens. Among 

 the interesting Nostochinea3 distributed are Rivularia Bor- 

 netiana and Arthrospira Gomontiana recently described by 

 Setchell. w. g. f. 



III. Miscellaneous Scientific Intelligence. 



1. National Academy of Sciences. — The following is a list of 

 the papers presented for reading at the meeting of the National 

 Academy held in Washington, April 20-25. 



E. W. Hilgard: The geological efficacy of alkali carbonate solutions. 



M. Carey Lea : On the color relations of atoms, ions, and molecules. 



E. D. Cope : On the characters of the Otoccelidse. 



A. M. Mayer : Exhibition of a linkage whose motion shows the laws of 

 refraction of light. Location in Paris of the dwelling of Malus, in which he made 

 the discovery of the polarization of light by reflection. (1) On experiments show- 

 ing that the X-Rays cannot be polarized by passing through herapathite ; (2) the 

 density of herapathite ; (3) formulas of transmission of the X-Rays through glass, 

 tourmaline, and herapathite. 



