188 General Notes. [ March, 
actly in what state his specimens were when examined. Milde, 
himself, in another part of the same work, when speaking of A. 
spinulosum and dilatatum, apparently regarded the presence or 
absence of glands on the indusium as unimportant. 
I shall discuss this question more fully hereafter; for the pres- 
ent I can only say that the specimen of A. remotum at Cambridge, 
from Braun’s herbarium—the ticket is apparently in Braun’s 
handwriting and bears date “Aulich, Sep. 1859 ”—appears to me 
identical with ‘our A. doortii / If detached from the sheet and 
sent out for that fern, it would be generally received without 
question. 
But in whichever way the question of identity is finally decided, 
its determination either way cannot affect the position of Tuc 
man’s name, which dates with Braun’s earliest name (Aspidinm 
rigidum, var. remotum, A. Br. in Deell’s Rheinische Flora, 1843) 
and is the oldest specific name on record. The name Aspidium 
doottat Tuckerman, therefore, must remain undisturbed. 
I am greatly indebted to Mr. Sereno Watson, of Cambridge, 
and to Prof. Eaton, for their kindness in aiding me to look up 
authorities. (Geo. E. Davenport in Catalogue of the “ Davenport 
Herbarium” of North anerian Ferns, Mass. Hor. Soc. ined. 
MeEpForD, Mass., Jan., 1879 
Remarks—In m me on Aspidium spinulosum I was inad- 
vertently led into two errors of authority that I wish to correct 
here. Aspidium spinulosum var. dilatatum and A. spinulosum var. 
ġoottii should both be ate by Gray as authority, in place of 
“D. C. Eaton in Gray’s ual,” 
BoranicaL News.—Sir Ho in es recent address to the 
Royal Society, refers to the remarkable theory of Schwendener, 
now ten years old, affirming that the lichens consist of ascomy- 
cetal fungi united in a commensal existence with alge. Indeed 
Stahl has manufactured such lichens, as Exdocarpon and Thelidium 
by juxtaposition of the appropriate algae and fungi. That minute 
plants (Bacillus) may occasion disease is apparently shown by the 
fact that the dried blood of horses that had died of the ‘ Loodi- 
ana fever,” in India, on being sent to England, there afforded seed 
from which a crop of Bacillus anthracis has been grown, which 
justified its distant pathological origin by reproducing the disease 
in other animals. 
__ That gigantic undertaking, the Flora of Brazil, begun by Von 
Martius, is now being carried on by Eichler of Berlin, under the 
liberal auspices of the Emperor of Brazil. A little over a year 
ago Bentham’s Flora of Australia was completed. It describes 
eight pees species of plants 
Mr. A: W. Bennett contributes to Mature an account of the ex- 
periments of Rev. G. Henslow on the absorption of water by the 
leaves of plants, forming a sequel to and confirming those of 
— That plants absorb water by their leaves, and that = 
