1 882.] Botany. 6jt, 



A. Br.; 24, Ch. gynmopus var. Humbolddi A. Br. ; 25, CJi. scjuncta 

 A.Br.; 26, Ch. aspera Willd.; 27, Ch. aspera Willd., var. J/,r- 

 fw*a; 28, 29, AW/# /**#« Ag. ; 30, N. fiexilis Ag., var. «/£- 

 capitata A. Br. 



Readers of the Naturalist can render a real service to science 

 by collecting and forwarding good specimens of Characeae to the 

 author of these fasciculi, Dr. T. F. Allen, No. 10 East 36th St., 

 New York city. Specimens should be collected in midsummer. 



Colored Figures of the Larger Fungi. — Fries' " Icones 

 Selectas Hymenomycetum nondum delineatorum." Of this 

 beautiful and valuable publication begun by the late Elias Fries 

 in 1867, the 6th Fascicle of the 2d vol. has lately been issued 

 bringing the work up to plate 170 and containing, in all, figures 

 of 468 species, mostly Agarics. The figures are colored litho- 

 graphs on sheets of fine heavy paper 11x15 inches, and are justly 

 considered as the ne plus ultra of mycological illustrations. No 

 one who has seen them will question their artistic merit and the 

 fact that the original drawings were done under the direct super- 

 vision of the illustrious Fries is a sufficient guarantee of their 

 scientific accuracy. 



Kalchbrenner's " Icones Selectae Hymenomycetum Hungarian," 

 of which only 40 plates have been published, is a work entirely 

 similar in style and character to the above. 



The " Figures peintes des Champignons," by Monsieur le 

 Capitaine Lucand (Autun, Saone et Loire, France), are also 

 worthy of high commendation. These are on sheets about 10x13 

 inches. The figures are beautifully colored and shaded, being, in 

 fact in point of artistic merit, not inferior .to those of Fries' 

 Icones. Monsieur Lucand has now issued two fascicles of 25 

 plates each, at 30 francs per fascicle. 



The first two publications mentioned are sold at about S25 

 per 100 plates.— y. B. Ellis, Nezvficld, N. J. 



The scarcity of Alder Catkins. — Professor Bailey speaks in 

 the April number of the Torrey Bulletin, of the comparative lack 

 of the alder catkins of the male sex, near Providence, R. I. In 

 this vicinity I notice also but few male catkins, whereas plenty of 

 female flowers are to be found.— C. S. Plumb, Amherst, Mass. 



Botanical Notes.— Dr. W. P. Wilson's paper on the respira- 

 tion of plants in the June number of the Amcr. Journal of Science 

 is an excellent resume of our present knowledge of this difficult 

 subject. Respiration of plant,, i.e. the taking in of oxygen and 

 the giving off of carbon dioxide is now known to be a complex 

 process exactly analogous to the respiration of animals. The 

 carbon dioxide excreted in plant respiration is not, as was 

 formerly supposed, a product of direct oxidation from the free 



oxygen of the air. Mr. Darwin in one of his latest papers read 



before the Linnean Society showed that root hairs are developed 



