172 General Notes. 
Stem. Throughout all parts of the State they occur in company, 
and they are common and abundant in nearly every locality. How- 
ever, in the eastern part of the region they grow taller, and are 
more inclined to entirely cover the ground. The first-named often 
attains a height of from six to eight feet. In the western part of 
the region Andropogon saccharoides Swz., a feathery topped species, 
occurs along with the preceding. 
n the eastern counties Wheat grass (Agropyrum glaucum R. & 
8. ) appears in little patches, which are plainly noticeable on account 
of their glaucous green color. As every botanist knows, this spe- 
cies bears a remarkable resemblance to Quack grass (Agropyrum 
repens Beauv.), but it is not as much inclined to spread by its under- 
ground rootstocks as its eastern relative. As we go westward this 
Wheat grass increases in abundance, and by the time we reach the 
altitude of 3,000 to 5,000 feet, it is one of the most valuable of the 
hay grasses, and is relied upon very largely for forage by the farm- 
ers and stock growers. 
Two other grasses are very common upon the plains, viz., Hato- 
nia obtusata Gr. and Koeleria cristata Pers. They occur every- 
where upon the drier lands, and are emphatically Prairie grasses. 
With them we find very commonly Sporobolus asper Kth., a late- 
growing species, which remains standing all winter long, with leaves 
wrapped around its partly enclosed fruiting panicle.— Charles E. 
Bessey. 
Sotms-LAvuBAcH’s PAL#OPHYTOLOGIE.—A few months ago 
this na aed work was brought out by Arthur Felix in Leipzig. 
Its seope may be indicated by the following summary of its con- 
tents: Thallophytes and Bryophytes receive 19 pages; Coniferæ, 33 ; 
ycadeæ medulloseæ, 20; Cordaiteæ, 19; Ferns, 53; Lepidoden- 
dreæ, 48 ; Sigillarieæ, 23: Stigmaria, 32; Calamariez, 50; Sphe- 
nophyllez, 13. Fifty or more pages are devoted to smaller 'zroups, 
and to the discussion of genera of doubtful affinity. Forty-nine 
wood-cuts add materially to the value of the volume. 
BorantcAL Work IN New York.—The reception of two 
reports from the State botanist enables us to note the progress of 
systematic botany in New York. The statement of the work of 
the botanist for 1885, published in the Thirty-ninth Annual Report 
of the New York Museum of Natural History, 1886, includes 
descriptions of many new species of fungi, among which are seven 
species of Agaricus, one of Russula, two of Boletus. The New 
York species of the genera Pleurotus, Claudopus and Crepidotus 
are fully described. 
In the Bulletin of the New York State Museum of Natural His- 
tory, Vol. I., No. 2, which bears date of May, 1887, Mr. Peck 
describes fifty-four species of fungi, among which is an interesting 
