76 The American Naturalist. [January,. 
America. It was very destructive to the Æcidium, its smooth violet- 
colored spores completely filling up fully half the pseudoperidia and 
injuring many more, destroying and taking the place of the zecidios- 
pores. It has been reported before from but one place in America, so 
far as I can learn,—from Oregon,—unless we consider, as Farlow has 
hinted (Botanical Gazette, 1885, page 245), that Synchytrium jonesii 
Pk. (Tuberculina jonesii Pk. Sacc.) is identical with it. 
On the same specimens of Æcidium, another but more common 
parasite was also found,—Darluca filum (Biv.) Cast. This is not 
usually very destructive. Cases are found, however, in which it is. 
To Uromyces junci (Desm.) Tul. it is frequently very injurious. 
Specimens of the uredo of Puccinia rubigo-vera on wheat collected at 
Crete, Nebraska, in July, 1886, are much injured by it. Perhaps it is 
a much more injurious species than we are wont to suppose. We have 
nothing to fear from it, however, as we have from some of its hosts. 
If it is a common wheat-rust parasite, we on the contrary can heartily 
say, would that it were more common.—HERBERT F WEBBER, Zin- 
coin, Nebraska. 
The Lichens of the Guinea Islands.—The lichens of the three 
islands of St. Thomas, Prince, arid Capra, lying in the Gulf of Guinea, 
off the west coast of tropical Africa, have recently been treated by 
Nylander, in a little work of 54 pages (Lichenes Insularum Guineen- 
sium). A noticeable feature of the lichen flora of these islands is that 
while on St. Thomas Island the Corticole predominate, on Prince the 
Saxicole are much more common ; also quite a number Fo/iicole are 
found on the former. This will give an idea of the nature of the land 
in the islands. Another feature important to American lichenologists, 
is that of the 129 species enumerated, about 40 are found in our own 
country, or about one-third of the species are common to both places. 
In this pamphlet Dr. Nylander seems to lay considerable stress On 
chemical reactions, especially that of sodium on the ‘‘gelatinous hy- 
menium,”’ as a means of determining species. The ‘‘ observations È 
in the back part of the book contain considerable information regard- 
ing new species from various localities, that of most interest to US 
being observation six, containing descriptions of new species collected 
by Dr. Eckfeldt and W. W. Calkins, etc., principally in Florida.— 
Tuos. A. Witiiams, Lincoln, Nebraska. 
The Flora of Central Nebraska (Continued).—In climbing 
the bluffs we gathered specimens of Fragaria vesca L., and succeeded 
in disposing of quite a number of its elongated conical berries. On 


