1887] ; Botany. 667 
The foregoing quotation is from an interesting little work, 
entitled “ An Introduction to the Study of Lichens,” by Henry 
Willey, of New Bedford, Mass., which is intended to help the 
beginner over some of the above-mentioned difficulties, as well 
as to lay a broad foundation for good work. Five pages of the 
book are devoted to the collecting and preservation of lichens, 
Ten pages are given to the structure and organs of lichens; two 
and a half to the distribution of North American lichens; four 
to the history of lichens; two to bibliography ; and twenty-eight 
to their systematic arrangement. The ten plates which are 
added will be very helpful to the student. ; 
A slip of the pen, which can easily be corrected, occurs on 
page 11, where a lichen is said to be “a cryptogamic plant of 
the order [sic] Thallophytes.” Class, or Branch, was evidently 
intended. In the fifth chapter it would have been well, perhaps, 
to have referred to a distribution of sets of New England lichens 
begun eight or ten years ago by Dr. Halsted, but soon aban- 
oned,. Reference should also have been made to the excellent 
introduction to the study of the structure and development of 
lichens in Sach’s “ Text-Book of Botany,” Goebel’s “ Classifica- 
tion of Plants,” and the article “ Lichens,” by the Rev. James M. 
Crombie, in the fourteenth volume of the ninth edition of the 
“Encyclopedia Britannica.” 
Cannot the botanists of the country prevail upon Mr. Willey 
to undertake the task of preparing sets of North American 
lichens? There can be little doubt as to the success of such 
an undertaking —Charles E. Bessey. 
_ Botanical News.—The “ List of Works on North American 
Fungi,” published in the Harvard University Bullctin, No. 37, by. 
Professors Farlow and Trelease, is a most valuable aid to the 
student of the fungi. The list extends from A to H, and already 
includes three hundred and thirty-eight entries. The remainder 
i A book which will prove useful in the 
rog: ; a 
about six hundred and fifty pages. The subscription-price is 
_ twenty francs. 
A new journal, the Annals of Botany, is an- 
r tG 
by Dr. C. © 
Professor E. L. 
