626 General Notes. [ September, 
appears at the surface of the ground, also by the leaning of the 
lower part of the trunk toward the west. 
What caused such a planting of the top of a tree in the ground 
can only be conjectured. It was done before any white man’s 
axe felled a tree to crush it down. Perhaps some early trapper 
bent it down fora night’s shelter, but more probably the wind 
overthrew the tree, which forced the young bass-wood to the 
ground and held it there. This case shows, as is not often seen, 
how the functions of the stem may be completely reversed, as in 
the western half of this arched base. It is the more interesting 
in every respect, because it is probably the work of natural forces 
unaided by man.— F. E. Todd, Tabor College, May 2, 1878. 
Boranicat News.—Messrs. Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor & Co., 
have issued Professor Gray’s Synoptical Flora of North America. 
Vol. II. Part I. Gamopetale after Composite. It forms the first 
installment of the long expected continuation of Torrey & Gray's 
“ Flora of North America.’”——Two parts have appeared of Mee- 
han’s “ The Native Flowers and Ferns of the United States,” the 
plates printed in colors by Prang & Co., Boston, from designs by A. 
Lunzer. The Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club for June, 
contains notes on Vitis by Dr. Engelman ; on Botrychium simplex 
in Massachusetts, by G. E. Davenport ; Mr. Britton contributes a 
table of observations on the appearance of the leaves of shrubs 
and trees on Staten Island. A notice of Williamson’s Ferns of 
Kentucky, speaks favorably of it as a convenient and excellent 
work.—tThe Botanical Gazette for June contains notes on the 
vitality of the seeds of Datura tatula, by T. C. Porter; on the 
plants of Indian Territory, by A. Wood; on polygamous flowers 
in Populus, by G. E. Davenport; on the distribution of certain 
plants in Missouri, by G. C. Broadhead (concluded in July num- 
ber); and on Monotropa uniflora, by R. E. Kunze. The July 
number prints a letter from A. Fendler, on the, botany of the 
Island of Trinidad. Mr. G. J. Lemmon contributes an amusing 
article on honorary names in scientific nomenclature. The same 
number contains advance descriptions of two new species of Bap- 
tisia, B. calycosa Canby, from St. Augustine, Fla., and Z. sulphurea 
Engelmann, apparently from Missouri. The August number 
contains a list of the plants of Indian Territory, by G. D. But- 
ler. mong the articles in Trimen’s Journal of Botany is a 
new key to the genera of Amaryllidaceze, by J. G. Baker. An 
Arabis and a large Cincus were found growing, by F. V. Dick- 
ens, among the cinders almost at the summit of the volcano 
of Fusi in Japan, which is 12-13000 high. The number of 
= visits paid during the year 1877, to the herbarium of the Brit- 
-ish Museum for scientific inquiry or research was 1297. Caruel’s 
Vegetable Morphology is noticed as being fresh and original, 
with figures mostly original. At a meeting of the Linnxan 
