280 The American Naturalist. {Mareh, 
family Phallaceæ, for which he proposes the generic name Phallogaster. a 
It appears to connect the Phallaceæ with the Lycoperdacez ; in fact it 1 
is difficult to say why it may not be placed near the Puff-Balls rather a 
than near the Stink-Horns. The single species is P. saccatus. Speci- 
mens have been collected in Ohio, New York and Connecticut, show- — 
ing that it is not local in its distribution. —In the “ Contributions from — 
the U.S. National Herbarium,” issued in December, 1892, J. M. Holz- — 
inger publishes lists of the plants collected by C. S. Sheldon and M. A. 
Carlton in the Indian. Territory in 1891. The novelties are, a variety 
( fasciculata) of Solidago missouriensis; a species of trailing morning 
glory (Ipomea carletoni) with narrowly lanceolate leaves and large 
flowers (2 to 2) inches long) which are solitary or occasionally in twos 
- or threes; and a new Euphorbia (E. strictior), with very narrow leaves. 
- Dr. Engelmann’s E. polyphylla, the description of which has hitherto 
not been published, is here characterized and distinguished from £. 
wrightii, E. strictior and E. discoidalis—In the same publication Mr. 
. Carleton publishes some useful “Observations on the Native Plants of 
. Oklahoma Territory and Adjacent Districts.” His observations upon 
the native grasses are especially valuable.—Mr. B. B. Smyth, of Topeka, 
| Kansas, has published a useful “Check-list of the Plants of Kansas,” 
with especial reference to his proposed distribution of botanical speci- 
-~ mens.—The Contributions to American Botany from the Herbarium 
of Harvard University which the writings. of Gray and Watson have 
: made familiar to botanists throughout the world, have been resumed 
- by Dr. B. L. Robinson, the Curator of the Gray Herbarium. His 
. Jatest.contribution consists of Descriptions of New Plants Collected in 
. Mexico by C..C. Pringle in 1890 and 1891, with. notes upon afew other 
. species.. Among the more notable things is a new genus of Umbel- 
liferæ to which he gives the name Coulterophytum, which suggests that 
the author has taken the hint given by Otto Kuntze in regard to the — 
_ manufacture of names! .. Geissolepis, a new. genus of Composite is — 
- represented by a single species of prostrate plants from San Luis 
Potosi—Dr. Britton, in the Transactions of the N. Y. Academy of 
Sciences (Nov., 1892), discusses “ Ranunculus repens and its Eastern 
North American Allies.” He recognizes six species as follows: 1. B. 
repens L., sparingly introduced from Europe; 2. R. macounit Hook, 
Canada and in the Rocky Mountains of U.S.; 3. R, hispidus Michx., 
Ontario to Georgia and west to Michigan, Northwest Territory and 
, apparently to Texas; 4. R. fascicularis Muhl., widely distributed ; 5. 
R. septentrionalis Poir., eastern Canada to Minnesota, south to Pa. and 
_ Ky; 6. R. palmatus Ell., South Carolina, Ga: to Fla.—In a “ Prelim- 
