174 General Notes. [ March, 
Class 4. Carpospore®. A distinct organ, or “sporocarp,” results from 
the process of the fertilization of the female organ, or carpogonium. 
In the first series are the Coleochete, Floridee, and Characee ; in the 
second the Ascomycetes (including Lichens), Aecidiomycetes, and Pasidi- 
omycetes. This classification of the lower Cryptogams appears to be 
founded on sounder principles and a more thorough knowledge of their 
structure, and especially their mode of reproduction, than any hitherto 
proposed. — A. W. B. 
“Twines WITH THE Sun.”—A correspondent writes to inquire 
whether this expression, frequently applied to certain twining plants, is 
correct. He suggests that it might not apply to plants growing in the 
southern hemisphere. ‘The expression “with the hands of a watch” 
is conveniently employed in place of the above, and seems to remove all 
possible ambiguity. If one wishes to guard more completely against 
captious quibbling, he may amplify the expression thus: “in the direction 
taken by the hands of a watch held face upwards, in front of the ob- 
server.” — L. 
Sets or Namep Funai.— We are glad to be able to state to the 
readers of the Naruratist that Mr. Byron D. Halsted, Assistant in - 
Botany at the pti Institution, Jamaica Plain, can furnish to any who 
desire, at $5.00 each, sets of fungi numbering fifty well-determined 
specimens in see. set. 
BoranicaL Prizes.—The following prizes were awarded in 1875, 
by the French Academy, 
The Desmazitres prize in cryptogamic botany was divided between 
M. Emile Bescherelle for his Mosses of Mexico and New Caledonia, 
and M. Eugène Fournier for his Ferns of the same countries. From 
the report we learn that three hundred and fifty-nine species of Mexican 
mosses have been identified by Schimper and Bescherelle. In New 
Caledonia there have been found one hundred and thirty species. Four- 
nier gives five hundred and ninety-five species of Mexican ferns, one 
hundred and seventy-eight of which are peculiar to Mexico. He reports 
two hundred and fifty-nine species of ferns in New Caledonia. 
The Barbier prizes for discoveries in medicine aud botany were given 
to Albert Robin and M. Hardy for their investigation of the new drug; 
jaborandi, the leaves of Pilocarpus pinnatus, a plant of the rue family. 
BoranicaL Papers IN Recent PERIODICALS. — American Jo 
of Science and Arts, February, 1876. Dr. Gray criticises at some 
length a recent paper by Naudin, On the Nature of Heredity and Varia- 
bility in Plants. 
Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, New York, January, 1876. 
The question of the nativity in North America of some members of the 
gourd family is treated of at length by J. Hammond Trumbull, and 
on purely philological grounds the conclusion is reached that at least 
species bearing Indian names were not known until they were 
