1893.] Botany. 279 
BOTANY. 
An International Botanical Congress.—After careful cousid- 
eration of all the conditions it has been thought advisable to take 
steps toward securing an International Congress of Botanists in con- 
nection with the meeting of the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science in Madison next August. Upon the return of 
Professor Underwood from Genoa with his report of what was done 
there, as well as of what was left undone, such a Congress seemed a 
necessity, especially when it was learned that the delegates to the 
Genoa Congress expected one to be held in America this year in order 
to complete the work left by them. Moreover, the Columbian Expo- 
sition will doubtless bring many foreign botanists to this country 
during the year, and most of these will attend our scientific meet- 
ings whenever it is possible to do so. It seems wise, therefore, to 
take advantage of these favorable conditions and to arrange for a 
formal Congress. 
After a good deal of consultation on the part of those who could 
more readily do so, it was suggested that the Chairman of the Sec- 
tion of Botany of the American Association for the Advancement of 
Science and the President of the Botanical Club (Dr. Wilson) should 
appoint a committee to take the matter in hand. In accordance with 
this suggestion notices were sent on Dec. 9 to the following gentle- 
men with the request that they serve on such committee: J. ©. Arthur, 
L. H. Bailey, N. L. Britton, D. H. Campbell, J. M. Coulter, B. T. 
Galloway, Conway MacMillan, B. L. Robinson, William Trelease, L. 
M. Underwood, George Vasey. 
It is to be hoped that the heartiest support will be given to the com- 
mittee in their effort to bring to a successful issue the purpose for 
which they were appointed.—CHARLES E. Bessey, Chairman of Sec- 
tion G (Botany), A. A. A. 8. 
Botanical Notes.—Mr. B. M. Davis, in the December number of 
the “ Annals of Botany” describes and figures all the stages of devel- 
opment from the carpospore to the young growing plant of Champia 
parvula, one of the common red seaweeds of both the Atlantic and the 
Pacific coasts. It is a valuable contribution to the embryology of the 
Floridex.—A. P. Morgan describes in the “ Journal of the Cincinnati 
Society of Natural History (October) a singular new fungus of the 
