1218 General Notes. [ December, 
the absorption-bands characteristic of chlorophyll, it is necessary 
to examine successively solutions of different degrees of strength, 
some of the bands appearing only in dilute, and others only in 
strong solutions.—G. L. Goodale, in Bot. Text-Book. 
THE TREATMENT OF SETS OF BoTANICAL SpEeciMENS —In this 
day, when so many sets of plants are distributed by the many 
collectors and elaborators of groups, it becomes a serious ques- 
tion what to do with them in the herbarium. A single set, or 
even a few sets may be kept in the original form and consulted 
in this way, but when one has to ransack a dozen or more fas- 
cicles, in as many different sets, in order to make a comparison of 
the species of a particular genus, the trouble is entirely too much 
for a busy man. One dislikes to tear up his sets of Ellis’ North 
American Fungi, Thuemen’s Mycotheca Universalis, Linhart’s 
Ungarns Pilze, Wittrock and Nordstedt’s Algæ aque dulcis ex- 
siccate, Rabenhorst’s Algz Sachsens and Algz Europas, etc., 
etc., but really the labor of running over the numerous fascicles 
makes any other course impracticable. In the herbarium of the 
University of Nebraska, all sets of plants, of whatever groups, are 
cut up and distributed. The labels in all cases are distinctive, 
indicating with certainty the set to which each specimen belongs, 
and its serial number. Any specimen can thus be as readily re- 
ferred to as if it were retained in the original fascicle, while the 
ease of consultation and comparison is greatly enhanced. 
Botanica Nores.—-The botanical portion of the second an- 
nual report of the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station, 
by Professor Trelease, is mainly devoted to the spot-disease of 
strawberry leaves (Ramularia tulasnet), Three figures serve to 
make the descriptions much more easily understood, although 
the text is admirably clear.’ A paper of this kind is worth more 
scores of pages of so-called “experiments,” which too often 
constitute the bulk of the reports from American experiment 
stations. : er’s synopsis of the genus Selaginella, which 
has been running through the Journal of Botany for many months, 
is brought to a close in the October number. The whole num- 
ber of species described is 312, of which 105 are here described 
for the first time. B. M. Everhart, of West Chester, Pa., has 
compiled an alphabetical index to the species of the first fifteen 
centuries of Ellis’ North American Fungi. It will prove of great 
service to all who have occasion to refer to Ellis’ spetimens. 
From it we find that there are in the fifteen centuries thus far 
_ published twenty-five species of Peronospora, eighty of Puccinia, 
twenty-eight of Uromyces, fourteen of Ustilago, forty-seven of 
Polyporus, eighty of Peziza, etc., etc. Professor Beal has pub- 
- 
he: d in Bulletin No. 5, of the Michigan Agricultural College, 
the results of experiments made upon the vitality of seeds, from 
eal s that of seeds enclosed in sand in bottles and 
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