588 General Notes. [July, 



Ellis' North American Fungi.— When, in 1878, the first cen- 

 tury of " North American Fungi," by J. B. Ellis, appeared with 

 the timidly expressed hope of its author that the work might be 

 continued until a thousand species had been distributed, but few 

 of the subscribers dared hope for a speedy completion of the 

 first decade of centuries, and doubtless most looked for an early 

 suspension of the work. So many attempts have been made to 

 furnish sets of fungi, mosses, lichens, algae, etc., etc., which have 

 been abandoned long before completion, that subscribers to such 

 sets scarcely expect any other conclusion. It may be that Mr. 

 Ellis will weary of the good work he is doing so well, and thus 

 add his " North American Fungi " to the long list of incompleted 

 exsiccati, but present indications are hopefully to the contrary. 

 Already we have nine centuries, although scarcely more than 

 four and a half years have elapsed since the beginning of the work. 

 The publication of a century every half year involves an amount 

 of labor and a degree of patience and perseverance which only 

 those who have attempted to make up sets of plants can fully 

 appreciate. The two centuries (vm and ix) which came to 

 hand the middle of April, fully maintain the previously high rep- 

 utation of the series. Like their predecessors, they include rep- 

 resentatives of most of the orders of the fungi, the Hymenomy- 

 cetes and Pyrenomycetes, however, predominating. No. 775 1S 

 Diatrype tremellophora Ell., which was critically described in the 

 March Naturalist of the present year, under the caption of Dia- 

 trype disciformis Fr. Excellent specimens of this curious species 

 are given showing every stage. We shall look with interest for 

 the tenth century, and hope in due time to see Mr. Ellis bravely 

 undertake the second thousand. 



Preliminary Classification of the Brain of Crustacea.— 

 The following provisional grouping of the brain of Crustacea 

 appears to be justified by known facts, although 1 

 brains of Decapoda and Lim " 

 has been accomplished. 



The terms archi-cerebrum and syn-cerebrum have been proposed 

 by Professor Lankester, the first to designate the simple worm- 

 like brain of Apus, and the second to designate the composite 

 brain of the Decapoda, etc. 



Tetradecapoda. 

 I Cladocera. 



The syn-cerebrum of the Tetradecapoda, Amphipoda and so- 



