736 General Notes. [September, 



greater proportion of light and heat which the southerly half 

 receives, would give that side of the tree an advantage over the 

 northerly half." In corroboration of this hypothetical explanation 

 Of Dr. Stearns, we may record the statement of Professor Budd, 

 of Iowa, that in trees 'grown upon the prairies the thickness of 

 wood is always greater upon the north side of the trunk than 

 upon the south side. We shall be glad to hear from our corre- 

 spondents upon this point. 



A climbing Polypodium has been detected by that excellent 

 botanical collector, A. H. Curtiss, on Key Largo. The species 

 is probably Po!ypod::ini Szuirtzii Baker, and its discovery is a 

 most interesting one, giving another fern to Florida, and carrying 

 our list of North American ferns up to 156. 



Subscribers for Mr. Curtiss' plants will be glad to know that 

 he has not only collected enough of the new fern to supply all of 

 his sets, but that he has also collected fine specimens of Asplen- 



Soon after an Ophioglossum, which proves to be O. nudicaule 

 L. fil., collected by Dr. Parry, came to hand from California, ad- 

 ding another species to the flora of that State.— G. E. Davenport 



ZOOLOGY. 



The Occurrence of Mephitis interrupta Rafinesque in 

 North Carolina. — During the past summer I spent several 

 weeks in the neighborhood of Roan mountain, N. C, an interest- 

 ing region to any one having a taste for natural history matters. 

 Here I found ta ravenelU- 



ana Lea, the rare new Helices recently described by Mr. Binney, 

 and last, but not least, here I killed and skinned a fine specimen 

 of the rare M R ifmesque. 



The synonymy of this species is fully set forth in Dr. Coues' 

 Fur-bearing animals, wl ilogcde) puto- 



rius (L.). 



Speaking of Rafmesque's claims to the species he says: "The 

 PJephitis hitcrr pia of R ifmesque may or may not have been " a 

 pure figment of his imagination." It probably, however, had some 

 basis, and even if his account does not wholly agree with speci- 

 mens of Spilo^alc putnrius examined, it will be remembered that 



scribe a spot! -rated to be 



met by the realitv which this species offers. We may accept his 

 name as undoubtedly belonging here, and in fact we should 

 adopt it, as a more clef: in Zorilla, were it not 



anticipated by Linnaeus as just shown." 



Dr. Coues, in a recent letter to me, says, " the species undoubt- 

 edly belongs to Rafinesque." 



