ber of the same journal the same author publishes a plate containing good figures of all the new desmids in the preceding list.

Dr. Farlow's paper "On some Impurities of Drinking-water caused by Vegetable Growths," published in the First Annual Report of the Massachusetts State Board of Health, contributed to our knowledge of the economic relations of the fresh-water alga to ourselves. Two plates accompany this valuable paper.

Dr. T. F. Allen's "Characeæ Americanæ Exsiccatæ," consisting of dried specimens of ten species of Characeæ, was issued late in the year. The species are Nitella tenuissima Desv., N. intermedia Nordst., N. megacarpa Allen, Chara intermedia A. Br., Ch. intermedia A. Br., var. Americana A. Br., Ch. contraria A. Br., Ch. sejuncta, A. Br., Ch. coronata A. Br., var. Schweinitzi A. Br., Ch. gymnopus A. Br., var. Michauxii A. Br., Ch. hydropitys A. Br., var. septentrionalis, Nordst.

c. Lichenes. Our lichenologists appear to have published nothing during the year.

d. Bryophytes. A severely critical paper entitled "Bryological Notes and Criticisms," by the lamented Coe F. Austin, appeared in the January Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. It was suggested by the study of a paper by Lesquereux, James and Schimper containing descriptions of new species of North American Mosses. Mr. Austin challenged many of the new species described in the paper under review.

Mr. Austin published a paper, Bryological Notes, in the February number of the Bulletin, consisting of critical notes upon several species of mosses and several descriptions. The new genera Donnellia and Rauia were announced (but not described) and descriptions were given of Donnellia Floridana and Thuidium Alleni.

The "Catalogue of North American Musci," by E. A. Rau and A. B. Hervey, enumerates 1237 species. Localities are given for all the species.

e. Pteridophytes. Professor D. C. Eaton's magnificent work, "The Ferns of North America," was brought to a close early in the year. The beautiful plates, by Emerton and Faxon, and the clear and satisfactory descriptions are notable features in this great contribution to our knowledge of the ferns of this country.

In the June Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, Professor Eaton, under the title of " New or Little-known Ferns of the United

States," notices several species, and describes one new one, Notholana Lemmoni, from Arizona. The same author's "Systematic Fern List," a twelve page pamphlet, appeared in September. It consists of "a classified list of the known ferns of the United States of America, with the geographical range of the species." One hundred and fifty-one species and sixteen varieties are included.

In "A New Fern," by G. E. Davenport, in the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, the author describes a new species (Notholana Grayi) from Southeastern Arizona. A fine plate by Faxon accompanies the paper.

f. Phanerogams. Dr. Gray's "Contributions to North American Botany," published in the Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. xvi, is principally devoted to "Notes on some Compositæ." Synopses of species are given for the genera Aphanostephus, Chatopappa, Townsendia and Erigeron, and important notes are included under Vernonia, Solidago and Aster. Two new genera, Greenella and Grundlachia, and a number of species are described. Six new species of Asclepias are noted, and a new genus (Geniostemon) with two species of Gentianacea are described. Descriptions of miscellaneous species, and of a new genus of Euphorbiacea (Reverchonia) complete this valuable contribution.

Dr. Gray also published a synopsis of the species of the genus Leavenworthia, in the March Botanical Gazette.

A most important paper from Dr. Geo. Engelmann, entitled a "Revision of the genus Pinus, and Description of Pinus Elliottü,” was published in the Transactions of the Academy of Sciences of St. Louis, Vol. IV. The characters of pines are carefully described in extenso, and upon these a new arrangement of the species is proposed. The characters of the fruit scale serve to separate the genus into two sections, viz: 1. Strobus ("Apophysis with a marginal unarmed umbo, generally thinner"), and II. Pinaster ("Apophysis with a dorsal umbo, mostly armed, generally thicker"). "The subsections are distinguished by the position of the ducts within the leaf." The description of Pinus Elliotti, a south eastern species, is all that could be desired, and this is supplemented by three large and most excellent plates.

In the January Botanical Gazette, Dr. Engelmann described, in full, the northern Catalpa, Catalpa speciosa, which had previously been considered to be C. bignonicides.

Several new species of the genus Potamogeton were described by Thomas Morong, in the May Botanical Gazette. The new species are P. Illinoensis, P. Mysticus, P. lateralis, and P. gemmiparus (the latter by Robbins). Notes are added upon several other species.

I. C. Martindale, in a pamphlet entitled "Notes on the Bartram Oak, Quercus heterophylla Michx." reviewed the whole history of this much discussed and doubted species, and concluded that it should be restored as a true species.

Professor Sargent's "Preliminary Catalogue of the Forest Trees of North America," contained 342 species, with notes as to size, range, economic uses, etc.

Mention should be made here of H. W. Patterson's "Check List of N. A. Gamopetalæ after Composita," designed for use in making exchanges, marking desiderata, etc.

Robinson's "Flora of Essex county, Massachusetts," Smith and Mohr's “Preliminary List of the Plants growing without cultivation in Alabama," Peck's "Plants of the Summit of Mt. Marcy" (from the 7th Rept. of the Adirondack Survey), the list of "Ballast Plants in and near New York city," by Addison Brown, in the December Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, are valuable additions to our knowledge of local floras. Here may be noted the beginning, in the last named journal, of an important List of the State and local floras of the United States, by W. R. Gerard and N. L. Britton.

C. Geographical and Geological.—Dr. T. F. Allen, in a paper entitled "Similarity between the Characea of America and Asia," in the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, pointed out the resemblance between the Asiatic and American Characeæ. "A Summer in Roan mountain," by J. W. Chickering in the December Botanical Gazette; "A Botanist in Southern California," by J. F. James, in the July NATURALIST; "Botanizing on the Colorado desert," by E. L. Greene, in the November NATURALIST; "The Timber Line of High Mountains," by Thomas Meehan, in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and "The Geological History of the North American Flora," by Professor Newbury, in the July Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club (abstract of a lecture) are the other important contributions under this section.

D. Historical-The conclusion of Frederick Brendel's "His

torical Sketch of the Science of Botany in North America, from 1840 to 1858," in the January NATURALIST, and the "Sketch of the Progress of Botany in the United States in the year 1879," by C. E. Bessey, in the December NATURALIST, are the only historical papers published during the year.

E. Text Books, etc. Dr. Killebrew's little book "Grasses, Meadows and Pastures," and Dr. Sturtevant's pamphlet on "Indian Corn" (reprinted from the 38th Rept. of the N. Y. State Agricultural Society) deserve mention here on account of their botanical interest, in addition to their high agricultural value.

"Botany for High Schools and Colleges," Holt & Co., N. Y., by C. E. Bessey, appeared early in August. It consists of two hundred pages of general anatomy and physiology of plants, followed by three hundred and seventy-five pages devoted to the special anatomy and physiology of plants, and outlines of their classification. Under the first, protoplasm, the plant-cell, cellwall, formation of new cells, products of the cell, tissues, tissue systems, intercellular spaces, plant-body, chemical constituents of plants, chemical processes in the plant, relations of plants to external agents, are successively discussed. In the second part the characters of the seven grand divisions (sub-kingdoms) of the vegetable kingdom are described; the limits of the classes, cohorts and orders are briefly outlined, and their structure illustrated by selected examples.

A second revised and enlarged edition of Volney Rattan's "Popular California Flora," was issued about the middle of the year from the publishing house of Bancroft & Co., San Francisco. As enlarged, it consists of a hundred and fifty-six pages, including twenty-four pages of introductory matter, followed by simple descriptions of the less difficult plants selected from the flora of West-central California.

By far the most important botanical book of the year, was Sereno Watson's Vol. II of the "Botany of California," including Apetalæ, Gymnospermæ, Monocotyledones, Vascular Cryptogams, Musci and Sphagnaceæ. Dr. Engelmann elaborated the oaks, the pines and their allies, and the Loranthacea; M. S. Bebb, the willows; Wm. Boott, the Carices; Dr. Thurbur, the grasses, and Professor Eaton, the vascular cryptogams. A valuable "List of Persons who have made Botanical Collections in California," is appended, by Professor Brewer. The two volumes of this now

completed work, aggregating nearly twelve hundred pages, stand as a most pleasing monument to the ability of the authors on the .one hand, and on the other to the generosity of the business men. of California, who voluntarily defrayed all the expenses of preparation and publication.

F. Periodical Publications.-The Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club and the Botanical Gazette continued throughout the year as our only exclusively botanical journals. Each gave good evidence of substantial growth. The botanical departments of the American Journal of Science and the NATURALIST were maintained as usual. Botanical articles frequently appeared also in the Gardener's Monthly, American Agriculturist, American Monthly Microscopical Fournal and the American Journal of Microscopy.

:0:

EFFECTS OF REVERSION TO THE WILD STATE IN OUR DOMESTIC ANIMALS.

A

BY HON. J. D. CATON.

UNIFORMITY of form, color and habit in individuals

among the various species of wild animals, is almost universally observed, and the loss of this uniformity under the influence of domestication, if less universal, is very general. How long it took to produce these changes in the horse and the ox, the sheep and the goat, we cannot know, for these were subdued to domestication before events were recorded which might tell us of the struggle. That some animals were more readily influenced by domestication than others, we know. How readily the wild turkey changes in form, color and habits under the influence. of domestication I have demonstrated by my own careful experiments, an account of which I gave in the AMERICAN NATURALIST for June, 1877. That the domèsticated reindeer of Lapland have become parti-colored, while their wild brethren of the mountains all about them retain a uniform color, I have shown in "The Antelope and Deer of America," p. 330, and in "A Summer in Norway," p. 223. The deer in the parks of England and Ireland have become unstable in color, although they have been subjected to the influence of domestication for a much shorter period than have the reindeer of Lapland. These are the most striking instances among the quadrumana, which occur to me, to