BOTANY OF THE WEST. 
17 
Rocky Mountains.” In this report are comprised descriptions of 
16 genera and 66 species. “ It must remain for years the standard 
authority on the ferns of that wide area.” 
The mosses are described and determined by Mr Thomas P. 
James, of Cambridge, Mass., and include “ several novelties not 
heretofore found in this country, and a few of rare species.” This 
paper includes 42 genera and 79 species. 
“ The Hepaticae,” determined by Mr. C. F. Austen, consists of 
a list of 5 genera and 15 species. 
“The Lichens,” by Prof. Edward Tuckerman, comprises a cata- 
logue of 16 genera and 28 species. 
The last two papers contain no descriptions, but are mere 
catalogues, no new species having been detected by these crypto- 
gamists. 
The grasses were examined and reported on by Dr. Geo. Yasey ; 
the Junceae, Commelyneae and Cyperaceae, by Dr. Geo. Engleman ; 
the Labiatae, Scropbulariaceae, Polemoniaceae, Boraginaceae and 
Polygonaceae, by Prof. Thomas C. Porter; the Willows, by Mr. 
M. S. Bebb,of 111.; and the Carices by Mr. Booth, of Boston. 
Lieut. Wheeler, in transmitting this report to the Secretary 
of War, says, “The zeal and fidelity displayed by Dr. J. T. 
Rothrock, not only in the field, but in the preparation of his report, 
and in superintending the collection of other reports, are worthy of 
full commendation.” 
The “ table of orders,” &c., enumerates 104 orders, 637 genera, 
and 1,657 species. “As a rule only the plants collected by the 
various parties of this survey have been enumerated or described 
in this report.” 
w. c. s. 
ON PENIOPHORA. 
By M. C. Cooke.* 
(With Plates 122 to 126). 
The order Auricularini of Hymenomycetous Fungi contains two 
genera in the Friesian arrangement, under the names of Stereum 
and Corticium , on the structure of which a few obserrations may 
not be wholly out of place. 
It is well known that Fries paid little or no attention to micro- 
scopic characters, and that his whole classification of the Hymeno- 
mycetes was limited to all which could be detected by the aid of a 
common lens. In these days of microscopic research, such a limit 
is scarcely satisfactory, and in these two genera there are some 
structural features which indicate that his arrangement is not 
altogether so perfect as it might have been had he brought the 
microscope to his aid. 
* Read at the Meeting of the Woolhope Clnb, 1878. 
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