1026 General Notes. 
BOTANY.! 
THE So-CaLuep “ RESURRECTION PLant.”’—M. Leclerc du 
Sablon describes (Bull. Soc. Bot. France, xxxv.) the curious prop- 
erty of revivification possessed by Selaginella lepidophylla. When 
the root withers, each branch curls up, and the plant appears more 
or less in the form of a ball. In this state it is able to remain for 
a long time, and then when the water necessary for its growth is 
supplied, the branches unroll, the green color which had almost 
disappeared returns, and the branches and roots re-commence to 
grow. The structure of the plant is such that when dehydration 
occurs, the cells on one side of a branch are thicker than those on 
the other, thus they contract unequally and cause the branch to curl 
up.—Jour. Roy. Mic. Soc., Vug., 1888. 
PEDIASTRUM AND POLYEDRIUM.—Most botanists have had 
specimens of various species of both these genera under observa- 
tion, and probably few have suspected their real relationship. The 
flat discs of the former certainly bear little resemblance to the cal- 
trop-shaped groups of pointed cells of the latter. However, it 
appears that Askenasy has demonstrated that Polyedrium is but a 
stage of Pediastrum, or, to be more accurate, in statement, that 
Polyedrium polymorphum is a stage of Pediastrum boryanum. 
THE PLANTS or RHODE Isuanp.—James L. Bennett, of Provi- 
dence, has prepared, and the Franklin Society has printed, a cata- 
logue of the plants of Rhode Island, enumerating 2,928 species, 
besides 230 varieties, They are distributed as follows :— 
Phanerogams.........+. 475 genera, 1,259 species, 101 varieties. 
Cryptogams............. 494 * v 1,669 n 1 = 
The Cryptogams are represented as follows, viz. : Equisetaceæ, * 
species ; Filices, 33; Lycopodiaceæ, 13; Characeæ, 8; Muscl, 189; 
Hepatic, 74; Lichenes, 151; Fungi, 582; Algæ, 619. de 
The work of preparation has evidently extended over a cons! 
erable period, as in the preface it is stated that the Musci wh 
determined by Mr. Lesquereux, and the Hepatice passed throug, 
the hands of Austin, who also aided in the determination of Muscl, 
1 Edited by Prof. Chas. E. Bessey, Lincoln, Neb. 
