240 General Notes. [March, 



Botanical Notes.— Dr. Sternberg has seen "prehensile fila- 

 ments" of protoplasm in a species of Navicula, and is thus able 

 to confirm Dr. Wallich's views as to the motions of diatoms. 

 In a letter to the American M ■' Journal he 



says : " I have seen them frequently in certain diatoms [Navcula] 

 found in abundance in the gutters of New Orleans." He used 

 a 2-5 per cent, solution of iodine for suddenly killing and staining 



the filaments. It is announced in English journals that B. D. 



Jackson, Secretary of the Linnean Society, will shortly bring out 



a new edition of Steudel's Nome-delator Botanicus, Dr. Thurber 



is to publish a new edition of " American Weeds and Useful 

 Plants," and asks for notes upon new weeds, directing attention 

 especially to the aggressive grasses. Specimens are desired, and 



should be sent to 75 1 Broadway, New York. S. E. Cassino, 



of Boston, announces for publication, at an early date, "A Man- 

 ual of the Mosses of the United States," by Leo Lesquereux and 

 Thomas P. James. It will contain nine or ten copper-plates illus- 

 trating the genera. The same publisher announces also a "Man- 

 ual of the Lichens," by Professor Tuckerman. A. H. Curtiss' 



Fascicle v. of his southern plants is one of the most interesting 

 yet sent out by him. Several of the specimens represent new 

 species, some of which are curious. Some are new to our flora, 

 as Catesbcea parviflora, a remarkable shrub from Southern Flor- 

 ida. This year (1882) Mr. Curtiss intends to spend in collecting 



in the Smoky mountains of East Tennessee. M. E. Jones, of 



Salt Lake City, has recently sent out his catalogue of specimens 

 of California Plants, to be issued in fascicles. Many interesting 

 species are represented, and this, with the low price ($30 per fas- 

 cicle of 500 species), will make these sets very desirable. 

 ZOOLOGY. 



Nesting Habits of the Horned Lark. — In the November 

 number of the Naturalist, Mr. Aldrich, of Webster City, Iowa, 

 notices the finding of a bird's nest with eggs, near the Agricul- 

 tural College, on the last day of March, which he ascribes to the 

 snow-bunting ( Plectrophanes nivalis). In this he must be mistaken, 

 as no bird of that species probably ever nested within a thousand 

 miles of Iowa. There are, I believe, only two records of its 

 breeding in the United States, and both of those were in New 

 England The bird to whom the nest that he discovered really 

 belonged, was probably the horned lark ( llrcmophila alpestris). 

 This bird habitually winters in Iowa in great numbers, and many 

 remain to breed, which they always do very early in the season, 

 with little apparent regard to temperature. Professor Arthur, of 

 Charles City, I< iwa, tells mo that he has seen the snow blowing over 

 the nest and mother-bird when the weather was as severe as mid- 

 winter. Some specimans that I shot in February and dissected, 

 showed by the condition of the sexual organs, that the breeding 



