PROCEEDINGS OP THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY 7" OF WASHINGTON VOLUME VII 1892 WASHINGTON, D. C. PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY 1892-1893 COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATIONS. CHARLES D. WALCOTT, Chairman. FREDERICK V. COVILLE. F. H. KNOWLTON. L. 0. HOWARD. T. S. PALMER. JUDD & DETWEILER. PRINTERS. (ii) CONTENTS. , Page Constitution and By-Laws vii Rules Relating to Publication xii Proceedings for 1892 . xvii The Geographic Distribution of Life in North America, with Special Reference to the Mammalia ; by C. HART MERRIAM 1 Description of New Plants from Southern California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona ; by FREDERICK VERNON COVILLE 65 Some Interrelations of Plants and Insects ; by C. V. RILEY 81 Third List of Additions to the Flora of Washington, D. C. ; by THE- ODOR HOLM 105 Plants of the Pribilof Islands, Bering Sea ; by C. HART MERRIAM. . . 133 Jn Carcharodon mortoni, Gibbes ; by F. A. LUCAS 151 The Fossil Flora of the Bozeman Coal Field ; by F. H. KNOWLTOX. . 153 Note on Lower Cambrian Fossils from Cohassett, Massachusetts ; by CHARLES D. WALCOTT 155 A New Generic Name for the Bering Sea Fur-Seal ; by T. S. PALMER. 156 Description of a New Prairie Dog (Cynomys mexicanus) from Mexico ; by C. HART MERRIAM 157 Description of a New Genus and Species of Murine Rodent (Xenomys nelsoni) from the State of Colima, Western Mexico ; by C. HART MERRIAM 159 Descriptions of Nine New Mammals Collected by E. W. Nelson in the States of Colima and Jalisco, Mexico ; by C. HART MERRIAM . 164 The Occurrence of Cooper's Lemming Mouse (Synaptomys cooperi) in the Atlantic States ; by C. HART MERRIAM 175 (iii) ILLUSTRATIONS. Page Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure 10 Figure 11 Figure 12 Figure 13 Figure 14 Figure 15 Figure 16 89 Map (MERRIAM) Second provisional bio-geographic map of north America, showing the principal life, areas Figure 1 (RILEY) Female Pronuba yuccasella, illustrating the anat omy and embryology ^ Female Pronuba yucca*ella gathering pollen Flower of Yucca filainenlosa with near petals re moved, showing Pronuba in act of ovipositing. Transverse section of carpel of Yucca pistil Longitudinal section of pistil of Yucca filamentosa, showing punctures of Pronuba, deposition of eggs, etc Nectar apparatus of Yucca 91 Pronuba maculata 92 Pronuba yuccasella 93 Mature pods of Yucca angustifolia 94 Prodoxus decipiens, imago 96 Genital characters of Prodoxus decipiens 96 Prodoxus decipiens, larva, burrows, etc 97 Prodoxus marginatus -. 98 Prodoxus y-inversus 98 Prodoxus coloradensis 99 Prodoxus reticulatus, female 99 (iv) LIST OF THE OFFICERS AND COUNCIL OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON ELECTED JANUARY 9, 1892. OFFICERS. President. C. HART MERRIAM. Vice-Presidents. C. V. RILEY. C. D. WALCOTT. RICHARD RATHBUN. FRANK BAKER. Secretaries. FREDERICK V. COVILI.E. F. A. LUCAS. Treasurer. F. H. KNOWLTON. COUNCIL. C. HART MERRIAM, President. FRANK BAKER. F. A. LUCAS. TARLETON H. BEAN. T. S. PALMER. FREDERICK V. COVILLE. RICHARD RATHBUN. WILLIAM H. DALL* C. V. RILEY. THEODORE GILL.* THEOBALD SMITH. G. BROWN GOODE.* F. W. TRUE. L. 0. HOWARD. C. D. WALCOTT. FRANK H. KNOWLTON. C. A. WHITE.* LESTER F. WARD.* * Ex-Presidents of the Society. (V) LIST OF THE PERMAMENT COMMITTEES OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON FOR 1892. COMMITTEE ON COMMUNICATIONS. B. E. FERNOW, Chairman. F. A. LUCAS. ERWIN F. SMITH. COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATIONS. CHARLES D. WALCOTT, Chairman. FREDERICK V. COVILLE. F. H. KNOWLTON. L. 0. HOWARD. T. S. PALMER. DELEGATES TO THE JOINT COMMISSION OF SIX SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES OF WASHINGTON. C. HART MERRIAM, ex officio. RICHARD RATH BUN. LESTER F. WARD. VOL. VII, PP. XVM-XXIV APRIL 8, 1893 PROCEEDINGS OF THB BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. PROCEEDINGS. January 9, 1892. 186th Meeting. TWELFTH ANNUAL MEETING. The PRESIDENT in the chair and 23 persons present. The annual reports of the Treasurer and Recording Secretary were presented, and the officers for the year 1892 elected. (See page v.) January '23, 1892. 187th Meeting. The PRESIDENT in the chair and 18 persons present.' COMMUNICATIONS. C. W. STILES : "Notes on Parasites; Myzomimus t gen. nov." 1 Discussed by Dr. THEOBALD SMITH. THEODOR HOLM : " Studies of the Morphological Identity of the Stamens." Discussed by Mr. COVILLE, Dr. STILES, and Dr. MERRIAM. 1 Notes on parasites : 4, Preliminary note on Myzomimus gen. nov. type species M. scutatus (Mueller, 1869), Stiles, 1892. Journ. Comp. Medicine and Veterinary Archives, 1892, pp. 65-67, 1 fig. On the Anatomy of Myzomimus scutatus. Festschrift zum siebenzigsten geburtstage Rudolf Leuckarts, 1892, pp. 126-133, taf. xvii, figs. 1-29. 3 (xvii) xviii Biological Society of Washington. THEOBALD SMITH : " Peculiar Forms of Red Corpuscles in Mammalia in Anaemic Conditions." 1 February 6, 1892. 188th Meeting. The PRESIDENT, Dr. C. HART MERRIAM, delivered the annual address, entitled " The Geographic Distribution of Life in North America." 2 The meeting was held in the law lecture-room of Columbian University, there being 132 persons present. February 20, 1892. 189th Meeting. The PRESIDENT in the chair and 41 persons present. A committee, consisting of Mr. WALCOTT, Mr. LUCAS, and Mr. RATHBUN, was appointed to revise the Constitution and By-Laws of the Society. COMMUNICATIONS. W. H. DALL : " Factors in the Distribution of Animal Life as Illustrated by Marine Forms." Discussed by Mr. WALCOTT, Mr. FERNOW, and Dr. DALL, F. A. LUCAS: " On Carcharodon mortoni, Gibbes." 3 J. M. HOLZINGER : " On the Identity of Asdepias stenophylla and Acerates auriculata" * Discussed by Professor WARD, Mr. FERNOW, Mr. COVILLE, Mr. WALCOTT, Dr. DALL, Dr. CURTICE, Professor SEAMAN, Dr. ERWIN F. SMITH, Dr. BAUER, Mr. LUCAS, Mr. BANKS, and Dr. STILES. March 5, 1892. 190th Meeting. The PRESIDENT in the chair and 35 members present. COMMUNICATIONS. FREDERICK V. COVILLE : " Conditions Affecting the Distribu tion of Plants in North America." Discussed by Mr. LUCAS, Mr. 1 On changes in the red blood corpuscles in the pernicious anaemia of Texas cattle fever. Trans, of the Assoc. of American Physicians for 1891. Bulletin No. 1, Bureau of Animal Industry: Investigations into the nature, causation, and prevention of Texas or Southern cattle fever (pp. 56, 68). by Theobald Smith and F. L. Kilborne, Washington. 2 Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., vol. vii, Apr. 13, 1892, pp. 1-64, 1 map. 3 On Carcharodon mortoni. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., vol. vii, July, 1892, pp. 151, 152. 4 The identity of Atclepias stenophylla and Acerales auriculata. The Bo tanical Gazette, vol. xvii, April, 1892, pp. 124, 125. Proceedings. xix WALCOTT, Dr. MERRIAM, Dr. STEJNEGER, Professor JAMES, Dr. DALL, Professor RILEY, Mr. FERNOW, and Mr. COVILLE. CHARLES HALLOCK (read by Mr. LUCAS) : " The Physiology of a Pocoson." Discussed by Mr. WAITE and Mr. WILLIAM PALMER. VERNON BAILEY : " The Homes of Our Mammals." THEODOR HOLM : " The Flora of Nova Zembla." Discussed by Mr. SWINGLE. March 19, 1892. 191st Meeting- The PRESIDENT in the chair and 70 persons present. COMMUNICATIONS. LESTER F. WARD: "The Biological Basis of Psychology." Discussed by Dr. REYBURN, Mr. FERNOW, Professor RILEY, Mr. McGEE, Dr. DALL, Dr. MERRIAM, and Professor WARD. C. D. WALCOTT : " On the Discovery of Certain Cambrian Fos sils on the Coast of Massachusetts." l F. H. KNOWLTON : " The Fossil Flora of the Bozeman Coal Field." 2 Discussed by Professor WARD, Mr. WALCOTT, and Mr. KNOWLTON. C. W. STILES : u Notes on Parasites Strongylas rubidus." 3 April 2, 1892. 192d Meeting. The PRESIDENT in the chair and about 65 persons present. COMMUNICATIONS. C. V. RILEY : " The Interdependence of Plants and Insects." * Discussed by Professor WARD, Dr. GILL, and Professor RILEY. C. HART MERRIAM : " The Distribution of Tree Yuccas." Dis cussed by Mr. GILBERT, Mr. COVILLE, Mr. VAN DEMAN, Mr. HAS- BROUCK, and Professor RILEY. H. E. VAN DEMAN : " Variations in the Fruit of Hicoria Pecan" Discussed by Professor SEAMAN, Professor WARD, Mr. 1 Note on Lower Cambrian fossils from Coliassett, Mass. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., vol. vii, July 27, 1892, p. 155. <2 The Fossil Flora of the Bozeman Coal Field. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., vol. vii, July 27, 1892, pp. 153, 154. 3 Albert Hassall and C. W. Stiles : Strongylus rubidus, a new species of Nematode, parasitic in pigs. The Journal of Comparative Medicine and Veterinary Archives, 1892, pp. 207-209, figs. 1-3. *Proc. Bioi. Soc. Wash., vol. vii, May 28, 1892, pp. 81-104, xx Biological Society of Washington. VAN DEMAN, Mr. SIMPSON, Mr. HASBROUCK, Mr. FERNOW, and Mr. BRUNK. April 16, 1892. 193d Meeting. The PRESIDENT in the chair and 19 persons present. COMMUNICATIONS. C. W. STILES : " Notes on Parasites : Tsenia ovilla in its Rela tion to Blanchard's Classification." 1 Discussed by Professor DORAN, Dr. GILL, and Dr. STILES. FREDERICK V. COVILLE : " Flora of the High Sierra Nevada of California." Discussed by Mr. FAIRCHILD and Mr. MANN. FREDERICK V. COVILLE : " New Plants from California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona." 2 Discussed by Dr. MERRIAM, Mr. FAIRCHILD, Mr. WHITE, and Mr. COVILLE. ERWIN F. SMITH : " A Review of Baillon's Botanical Diction ary." Discussed by Dr. GILL, Professor SEAMAN, and Dr. SMITH. J. N. ROSE : u Mexican Leguminosae, with Notes on Dr. Palmer's Collection. April 30, 1892. 194th Meeting. The PRESIDENT in the chair and 48 persons present. The proposed new Constitution and By-Laws, recommended by the Council for adoption, were read. COMMUNICATIONS. W J McGEE: "The Distribution of Land, Water, and Ice on This Continent in Later Geological Periods." Discussed by Dr. MERRIAM, Mr. GILBERT, and Mr. McGEE. ERWIN F. SMITH : " The Relations of Plants to the Soil." Dis cussed by Mr. FAIRCHILD. May 14, 1892. 195th Meeting. The PRESIDENT in the chair and 23 persones present. COMMUNICATIONS. W. H. SEAMAN : " The Photogenic Organs of Fire Flies." Dis cussed by Mr. MANN, Dr. GILL, Dr. MERRIAM. and Dr. THEOBALD SMITH. 1 Notes sur les Parasites : Sur le Tsenia giardi. Compt. rend. . (1) 2 Merriam Geographic Distribution of Life. Page. Boreal Region (comprising Arctic, Hudsonian, and Canadian Zones) . 22 Lists of Boreal genera and subgenera 23 List of Arctic Mammals 24 List of Mammals common to Arctic and Hudsonian Zones 24 List of Mammals of the Boreal Zone 24 Sonoran Region (comprising Upper and Lower Sonoran Zones) 26 Lists of genera and subgenera of Sonoran Mammals 26 Lists of genera and species of the Transition Zone 32 List of Tropical families of Mammals north of Panama 33 List of Tropical genera of North American Mammals 34 Table showing the Geographic Distribution of North American Genera of non-pelagic Mammals occurring north of Mexico 36 Boreal Genera 36 Sonoran Genera 36 Tropical Genera ,. 36 Transition Zone Genera 36 Genera inhabiting both Boreal and Sonoran Regions 36 Distinctness of the Tropical Region from the Sonoran 37 The Sonoran not a Transition Region 38 Differentiation of Life from the north southward 39 Origin of Types and Faunas Geologic Evidence 41 Glacial Epoch 41 Causes controlling Distribution 45 Effects of Humidity contrasted with effects of Temperature 47 Remarks respecting some of Wallace's Fallacies 49 Mountains as barriers to dispersion 56 The so-called Eastern, Central, and Western Provinces and the evidence on which they are based 56 Paleearctic and Nearctic Regions 58 Peculiar Genera of Mammals inhabiting North America north of Mexico 61 Of Boreal origin ; 61 Of Sonoran origin 61 Principles on which Bio-Geographic Regions should be estab lished... 64 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. Nine years ago the Biological Society listened to an address from its distinguished retiring President, Professor Gill, on " The Principles of Zoogeography," or the science of the geographical distribution of animals.* Professor Gill assembled the oceans of the globe, as well as the land areas, into primary divisions or *Proc. Biological Society of Washington, vol. II, 1884, 1-39. Introductory .Remarks. 3 ' zoological realms,' of Avhich he recognized 9 for the land and 5 for the sea. It is not my purpose to discuss the zoological regions of the whole world, but to lay before you some of the facts concerned in the distribution of terrestrial animals and plants in North America with special reference to the number and boundaries of the sub-regions and minor life areas, and to touch upon the causes that have operated in their production. No phenomenon in the whole realm of nature forced itself earlier upon the notice of man than certain facts of geographic distribution. The daily search for food, the first and principal occupation of savage man, directed his attention to the unequal distribution of animals and plants. He not only noticed that certain kinds were found in rivers, ponds, or the sea, and others on land, and that some terrestrial kinds were never seen except in forests, while others were as exclusively restricted to open prairies, but he observed further, when his excursions were ex tended to more distant localities or from the valleys and plains to the summits of neighboring mountains, that unfamiliar fruits and insects and birds and mammals were met with, while those he formerly knew disappeared. Thus primeval man, and in truth the ancestors of primeval man, learned by observation the great fact of geographic distribu tion, the fact that particular kinds of animals and plants are not uniformly diffused over the earth, but are restricted to more or less circumscribed areas. It will be observed that two classes of cases are here referred to, namely, (1) cases in which in the same general region certain species are restricted to swamps or lowlands, while others are confined to dense forests or rocky hillsides differences of station, and (2) cases in which, regardless of local peculiarities, a general change takes place in the fauna and flora in passing from one region to another, or from low valleys or plains to high moun tains geographic differences. The latter class only is here con sidered. Every intelligent schoolboy knows that elephants, lions, giraffes and chimpanzees inhabit Africa ; that orangs and flying lemurs live in Borneo ; kangaroos in Australia ; the apteryx in New Zealand ; the Royal Bengal tiger in India ; llamas, chin chillas and sloths in South America ; the yak in the high table lands of Thibet, and so on. In accordance with these facts naturalists long ago began to divide the surface of the globe into 4 Merriam Geographic Distribution of Life. zoological and botanical regions irrespective of the long recognized geographic and political divisions.* It was found that different degrees of relationship exist between the indigenous animals and plants of different countries, and that as a rule the more remote and isolated the region and the earlier in geologic time its sepa ration took place, the more distinct were its inhabitants from those of other regions. Each of the larger islands lying near the equator and the continental masses of the southern hemisphere were found to possess not only peculiar species and genera, but even families and orders not found elsewhere ; and it was dis covered that insular areas of considerable magnitude that have had no land connection with other areas since very early times possess faunas and floras remarkable for the antiquity of their dominant types. In Australia, the most disconnected of all the continents, the entire mammalian fauna, though wonderfully diversified in appearance and habits, belongs to the primitive orders of monotremes and marsupials, whose best known repre sentatives are the duck-billed platypus and the kangaroo. In the latter group Australia and neighboring islands contain no less than six families not found in any other part of the world. Madagascar is the exclusive home of the remarkable aye-aye (Chiromys) and Cryptoprocta, the latter believed to be intermedi ate between the cats and civets. Tropical America is alone in the possession of true ant-eaters (Myrniecophagidae), sloths (Bradypodidae), marmosets (Hapalidse), armadillos (Daxypodidae) and agouties (Dosyproctidse). Africa is the home of many groups not known elsewhere. Among them are the giraffe, hippopotamus, Orycteropus, elephant shrews (Macroscelididae), Potomogale, and Chrysochloridas. Besides this class of cases, in which particular groups are re stricted to particular countries, there is another class, in which the living representatives of single groups exist in isolated colo nies in widely separated parts of the world. Illustrations of this kind are furnished by the tapirs, which inhabit tropical America and the Malay Peninsula, but do not exist in intermediate lands ; by the family Camelidse, represented in South America by the llamas and in parts of Eurasia by the true camels ; and by a group *Among the many distinguished naturalists who have contributed to the literature of tjie subject may be mentioned Humboldt, Bonpland, Buifon, De Candolle, Schouw, Engler, Agassiz, Baird, Asa Gray, Grisebach, Hux ley, Gill, Allen, Wallace, and Packard. Introductory Remarks. 5 of insectivorous mammals in which all the genera but one are restricted to Madagascar, the one exception (Solenodoii) living in Cuba and Haiti. Examples of this sort are known as cases of dis continuous distribution, and indicate that the ancestors of the animals in question formerly inhabited a vast extent of country ; that some sort of land connection, however indirect, existed be tween the colonies now so widely separated, and that the surviv ing descendants of these groups are probably approaching ex tinction. The examples thus far cited relate to the disconnected land areas in the neighborhood of the equator or in the southern hem isphere, and their explanation is to be sought in the history of the past. In the northern hemisphere animals and plants in general have a much more extended distribution than in the southern, the majority of the larger groups being common to North America, Europe, and Asia, and the limits of their distri bution are encountered in traveling in a north and south direc tion and are evidently the result of causes now in operation. It is to this class of cases as presented on the North American con tinent that your attention is invited this evening. In passing from the tropics to the Arctic pole on the eastern side of America a number of distinct zones are crossed, the most conspicuous features of which are well known. In the plant world the palms, mangroves, mahogany, mastic, Jamaica dog wood, and cassias of the tropical coast districts are succeeded by the magnolias, pawpaws, sweet-gums, hackberries, and persim mons of the Southern States. These give place gradually to the oaks, chestnuts, and hickories of the Middle States, and the latter to the groves of aspen, maple, and beech which reach the south ern edge of the great coniferous forest of the north a forest of spruces and firs that stretches completely across the continent from Labrador to Alaska. Beyond this forest is a treeless ex panse whose distant shores are bathed in the icy waters of the Arctic Ocean. Concurrently with these changes in vegetation from the south northward occur equally marked differences in the mammals, birds, reptiles, and insects. Among mammals the tapirs, mon keys, armadillos, nasuas, peccaries, and opossums of Central America and Mexico are replaced to the northward by wood- rats, marmots, chipmunks, foxes, rabbits, short-tailed field-mice of several genera, shrews, wild-cats, lynxes, short-tailed porcu- 6 Merriam Geographic Distribution of Life. pines, elk, moose, reindeer, sables, fishers, wolverines, lemmings, musk oxen, and polar bears. The trogons, saw-bills, parrots, cotingas and other birds of tropical America give place in turn to the cardinals, blue gros beaks, mocking birds, tufted tits, and gnatcatchers of the South ern States ; the chewink, indigo bird, tanager, bluebird, and robin of the Middle and Northern States; the Canada jays, crossbills, white-throated sparrows, and hawk owls of the northern conifer ous forests, and the ptarmigans, snowy owls, and snowflakes of the Arctic circle. HISTORICAL SYNOPSIS OF FAUNAL AND FLORAL DIVISIONS PROPOSED FOR NORTH AMERICA. The recognition of the above-mentioned facts early led to attempts to divide the surface of the land into faunal and floral regions or zones, and no less than 56 authors have proposed such divisions for North America. Of these, 31 were zoologists and 25 botanists. Of the zoologists, 10 aimed to show the distribution of animals in general, 8 of birds, 4 of terrestrial mollusks, 3 of mammals, 1 of reptiles and batrachians, and 4 of insects. Of the botanists, 22 aimed to show the distribution of plants in general and 3 of forest trees. Of the writers who attempted to indicate the life areas of the New World prior to 1850, 68 percent were botanists, while during the next twenty years (1850-1870), 65 percent were zoologists. This striking oscillation of the biologic pendulum, first toward bolany and then toward zoology, may be attributed in part at least to the influence of two great minds Hum- boldt and Agassiz. Humboldt laid the corner-stone of the philosophic study of plant geography in 1805. Stimulated by his example and writings, botanists led the way and were almost the only occupants of the field until the middle of the present centunr, when the influence of the elder Agassiz gained the ascendency and the botanists were replaced by zoologists, who have been in the lead ever since. The accompanying table shows the various authors referred to, the dates of the earliest publication of their divisions, the branch of biology on which their conclusions were based, and states whether or not their articles were accompanied by maps. Faunal and Floral Areas proposed for North America. 1 Latreille 1817 Insects No map De Candolle (Aug. ) . . . 1820 Plants No map Schouw 1822 Plants Map Martins 1824-'26 Plants Map Minding 1829 Mammals No map Pickering 1830 Plants Map Lesson 1831 Birds No map De Candolle (Alph.) . . 1835 Plants No map Meyen 1836 Plants No map Pompper 1841 Animals No map Berghaus 183S Plants Map Martens and Galeotti . 1842 Plants No map Kinds 1843 Plants No map Frankenheim 1843 Plants No map Wagner 1844 - Mammals Map Richard and Galeotti . 1844 Plants No map Binney (A.) 1851 Mollusks No map Richardson 1851 Plants No map Schmarda 1853 Animals Map Agassiz 1854 Animals Map Gray 1856 Plants No map Woodward 1856 Mollusks Map Sclater 1858 Birds No map Le Conte 1859 Insects Map Cooper 1859 Forests Map Hooker 1861 Plants Map Binney (W. G.) 1863 Mollusks Map Verrill ; 1863 Birds .' No map Baird 1866 Birds No map Murray 1866 Mammals Map Grisebach 1866 Plants Map Huxley 1868 Animals Map Brown 1870 Forests Map Allen 1871 Animals No map Bly th 1871 Animals No map Cope 1873 Repts. and batrchs. . Map Porter 1874 Plants Map Scudder 1874 Insects Map Wallace 1876 Animals Map Dyer 1878 Plants No map Engler 1882 Plants Map Packard 1883 Animals Map Jordan 1883 Mollusks Map Sargent 1884 Forests Map Drude ; , 1884 Plants Map Hartlaub 1886 Birds Map Reichenow 1887 Birds Map Heilprin 1887 Animals Map 8 Merriam Geographic Distribution of Life. Hemsley 1887 Plants Map Brendel 1887 Plants No map Nelson 1 887 Birds No map Schwarz 1888 Insects No map Bessey 1888 Plants No map Ridgway 1889 Birds No map Merriam 1890. . Animals and plants. Map Keeler 1891 Birds Map The principal bio-geographic divisions that have been recog nized by a large 'number of writers, and as a rule have been proposed independently and under different names, resulting from the study of different groups, are described in the following synopses, each of which may be regarded as a chronologic syn onymy of the region to which it refers. Arctic Division (Above Limit of Trees'). An Arctic circumpolar division north of the limit of tree growth was recognized as a distinct region by European writers long before the earliest attempts were made to map the faunal and floral areas of North America.* Hence the following table is necessarily incomplete, since it shows only the extent to which this zone has been recognized by those who have actually defined faunal and floral areas in North America. Date Author Name given to region Study based on Rank 1820 De Candolle. . . Hyperboreal Region Plants 1 1822 Schouw Realm of Mosses and Sax- Plants. 1 if rages. 1830 Pickering Arctic Region Plants 1 1831 Lesson Arctic Region Birds 1 1835 De Candolle. . . Arctic Region Plants . . . 1 1836 Meyen Polar Zone Plants 1 1838 Berghaus Realm of Mosses and Sax- Plants 1 ifrages. 1843 Hinds Greenland Region Plants 1 1 844 Wagner Polar Province Mammals 2 * This region, however, is not universally recognized. Wallace and a few others refuse to accept it. Agassiz, Allen, and most botanical writers, on the other hand, regard it as one of the best defined of the primary divisions. An important recent treatise on the subject, from the stand point of the distribution of mammals, is the following : "DicarktixrlH' tfith- r eg ion Eiu J><>itrag zur geograp/tlwltrii, Vci-ln-cilnmj <}<>r Thierc" by Dr. August Brauer (Zoologische Jahrbuclu-r, Abtli. fur. Syst. Ill, Jan., 1888, 189-308, tiif. VIII). Boreal Division. 9 !)<((<' Author Name given to region Study based on Rank 1853 Schrnarda Barren Grounds Animals 2 1854 Agassiz Arctic Realm Animals 1 1856 Woodward . . . Region of Saxifrages and Mollusks 1 Mosses. 1858 Cooper Arctic Province Plants 1 1866 Grisebach .... Arctic-Alpine Region. . . Plants 1 1870 Brown Treeless or Eskimo Prov- Forests 1 iiice. 1871 Allen Arctic Realm Animals 1 1875 Cope Arctic Realm Animals 1 1878 Dyer Arctic-Alpine Flora .... Plants 2 1882 Engler . N Arctic Region Plants ,2 1883 Packard ...... Arctic Realm Animals 1 1883 Jordan Arctic Province Mollusks 2 1884 Drude Arctic District Plants 2 1887 Brendel Arctic- Alpine Division . . Plants 1 1887 Reichenow. . . . Arctic Zone Birds. 1 1887 Nelson Arctic District (Alaskan). Birds 1 1888 Brauer Arctic Sub region Mammals 2 1890 Merriam Arctic Region Animals and plants. 2 Boreal Division. This heading is intended to cover the zone of coniferous forests extending across the continent south of the Arctic Realm. While its northern boundary is fixed at the limit of trees, its southern border has been variously placed by different writers. Schouw did not recognize it at all, but carried his great forest region down to latitude 36, where the true southern district begins. Berg- haus, who in other respects followed Schouw, divided this great region into two parts, the northernmost of which he named the ' Realm of Conifers,' placing its southern limit in the east at about latitude 47. Hinds, Agassiz, Woodward, Verrill, and Drude speak of it as the 'Canadian ' Region. Its southern limit is here extended to include the 'Canadian Fauna 7 of recent zoological writers. The extent to which this zone has been recognized will appear from the following table : Date Author Name given to region, Study based on Ran k 1830 Pickering .... Canadian Flora Plants 2 1838 Berghaus Realm of Conifers Plants 1 1S43 Hinds Canadian Region Plants 1 1S53 Schmarda .... Region of Coniferous Animals 2 Forests. c.. WASH., VOL. VII, 1892. 10 Merriam Geographic Distribution of Life. Date Author Name given to region Study based on Rank 1854 Agassiz Canadian Fauna Animals 2 1856 Woodward . . . Canadian Province Mollusks 1 1856 Gray Middle and Northern Plants (?) Wooded District. 1859 Le Conte Northern Province Insects 2 1859 Cooper Lacustrian Province Forests 1 1863 Verrill Canadian Fauna Birds 1 1863 Binney Northern Region Mollusks 2 1870 Brown Lacustrian Province. . . . Forests 1 1871 Allen Hudsonian and Cana- Animals 3 dian Faunas. 1882^ Engler Region of Conifers Plants 2 1883* Packard Boreal Province Animals 1 1884 Sargent Northern Forest Forests 2 1884 Drude Canadian District Plants 2 1890 Merriam Boreal Region Animals and plants. 2 Atlantic, Central, and Pacific Divisions of Temperate North America. It has been the custom of recent writers to divide the broad middle zone of North America (most of which lies within the United States) into three main' divisions Atlantic or Eastern, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the eastern border of the plains ; Central, from the plains to the Sierra Nevada ; and Pacific, from the Sierra to the Pacific Ocean.* These regions were pro posed as early as 1854 by the elder Agassiz, who however divided the Eastern or Atlantic district into two regions of equal rank Alleghanian and Louisianian, or faunas of the Middle and the Southern States. In this respect he has been followed by Cope. Other authors, including Le Conte, Baird, and Allen, regard the southern district as only a subdivision of the Eastern region. Agassiz named the Central region the ' Table-land or Rocky Mountain Fauna' and the Pacific the l Calif ornian Fauna.' This arrangement of the United States into three provinces has been followed in the main by Le Conte (1859), W. G. Binney (1863), Baird (1866), Cope (1873), Grisebach (1875), Wallace * These divisions must not be confounded with those of Amos Binney (published in 1851) bearing the same names, for Binney 's Atlantic region lay between the Atlantic and Alleghaiiies, his Central region between the Alleghanies and the Rocky mountains, and his Pacific region between the Rocky mountains and the Pacific. Woodward's divisions (185(5) are essentially those of Amos Binney. Atlantic or Eastern Forest Region, 11 (1876), Allen (1878), Packard (1883), Jordan (1883), Hartlaub & Newton (1886), and Heilprin (1887). The three divisions will be considered separately. Atlantic or Eastern Forest Region. Many writers have recog nized an eastern forest region stretching from the plains to the Atlantic and in a general way from the boreal or coniferous forests of the north to the alluvial lands of the South Atlantic and Gulf States ; but its northern and southern limits have been by no means agreed upon. Schouw denned these bound aries as the limit of trees on the north and latitude 36 on the south, and named the region Michaux's Realm or Realm of Asters and Solidagos. Berghaus retained Schouw's southern boundary, but took off a broad belt on the north, which he named the Realm of Coniferous Forests. The resulting northern limit as shown on his map (1838) agrees closely with that adopted by such recent writers as Wallace (1876), Allen (1878), Packard (1883), and Heilprin (1887), all of whom, on the other hand, carry its south ern boundary south to the Gulf of Mexico, thus making it co extensive with the Atlantic or Eastern Province already referred to. Several early writers, among whom Schouw and Berghaus \vere prominent, recognized this region in the east, but knew nothing of the great interior plains, and consequently spoke of it as ex tending all the way to the Rocky mountains. The extent to which this Eastern Forest region has been recognized, together with the approximate north and south boundaries assigned it, will appear from the following table : NOTE. In the columns showing limit on the north and south the fol lowing abbreviations are used : L. T. = northern limit of trees ; C. F. = northern coniferous forests ; A. = Austroriparian or Louisianian region ; G. = Gulf of Mexico. Date Author Name qiven to region A r ", A Rank 1822 Schouw Asters and Solidagos . L. T. A. Plants... 1 1830 Pickering. Flora of United States C. F. G. Plants.. . . 2 1838 Berghaus Asters and Solidagos . C. F. A. Plants... 1 1843 Hinds Iroquoian C. F. G. Plants ... 1 1848 Frankenheim... New England C. F. A. Plants... 2 1854 Agassiz Alleghanian . . . , C. F. A. Animals . 2 1856 Gray Northern States (?) A. Plants... 1 1859 Le Conte Eastern (?) G. Insects .. . 1 1859 Cooper Appalachian C. F. G. Forests . . 1 12 Merriam Geographic Distribution of Life. Date Author 1863 Verrill 1863 Binney (W .G.) . 1866 Baird 1866 Grisebach , 1870 Brown 1871 Allen. 1873 Cope 1874 Porter 1876 Wallace 1882 Engler 1883 Packard 1883 Jordan 1884 Sargent 1884 Drude 1886 Hartlaub 1887 Heilprin 1887 Brendel 1889 Ridgway.. Alleghanian C.F. Interior C.F. Eastern C. F. Forest L. T. Appalachian C. F. Eastern '.. C.F. Eastern (?) Forest C.F. Alleghanian C.F. Appalachian Province C. F. Eastern C. F. Atlantic Region C. F. Deciduous Forests ... C. F. Virginian C. F. Alleghanian C. F. Alleghanian C.F. Mixed Forest C. F. Eastern Province. . (?) A. Birds 1 A. Mollusks. 2 G. Birds .... 1 G. Plants ... 1 G. Forests... 1 G. Animals.. 2 A. Animals. . 2 G. Plants. ... 1 G. Animals. . 2 G. Plants. ... 3 G. Animals.. 1 G. Mollusks . 3 A. Forests... 2 G. Plants.... 2 G. Birds 2 G. Animals. . 2 G. Plants. ... 2 G. Birds.. 1 Central or Middle Division. This division extends from the eastern border of the great plains to the Sierra Nevada and Cas cade Mountains. It was first proposed by Agassiz in 1854, under the name ''Table-land Fauna or Fauna of the Rocky Mountains.'* The extent to which it has been recognized will appear from the following table : Date Author 1854 Agassiz 1859 Le Conte 1863 Binney (W. G.) 1866 Baird 1866 Grisebach 1873 Cope 1876 Wallace 1878 Allen 1881 Gray 1883 Packard 1883 Jordan 1884 Drude 1.886 Hartlaub ..... 1887 Heilprin 1887 Brendel 1889 Ridgway Name given to region Table-land Fauna .... Central District Central Province Middle Province . . Prairie Region Central Region Rocky Mountain Subregion, Middle Province Central Province Central Province Central Region Montana District Rocky Mountain Region . . . Rocky Mountain Subregion Prairie Flora Rocky Mountain or Middle District. Based on Rank Animals ....... 3 Insects 1 Mollusks 1 Birds. .. 1 Plants 1 Repts. and batrs . 2 Animals 2 Animals 2 Plants..... 1 Animals 1 Mollusks 3 Plants 2 Birds 2 Animals 2 Plants 1 Birds.. 2 Pacific or California Division. 13 Pacific or California Division. This name has been very gen erally applied to the Pacific coast region of the United States. It was first recognized by the botanist De Candolle in 1820. Pickering, in 1830, named it the Californian Flora, but, knowing little or nothing of the Sierra Nevada and believing the Rocky Mountains to be the only mountain system of importance in North America, extended its eastern boundary to that range. In this he was followed by the botanist Hinds, in 1843 ; by the conchologists, Amos Binney, in 1851, and Woodward, in 1856. Agassiz, in 1854, was first to fix its eastern limit at the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountains, where it has been permitted to rest. Its north and south boundaries have undergone consid erable fluctuations. The extent to which the Pacific or Californian region has been recognized will appear from the following table : <: Date Author Name given to region Based on Rank. 1820 De Candolle . . West Coast of Temperate Plants . 1 North America. 1830 Pickering Californian Flora Plants 9 1843 Hinds Californian Region Plants . 1 1848 Frankenheim . California Plants 2 1851 Binney (A.). . . Pacific Region Mollusks . 1 1854 Agassiz Californian Fauna Animals . 3 1856 Woodward Californian Province .... Mollusks . 1 1859 Le Conte Western District Insects . 1 1859 Cooper Nevadian Provincef Forests . 1 1863 Binney (W. G.) Pacific Province Mollusks . 1 1866 Baird Western Province Birds.... . 1 1866 Grisebach Californian Region Plants . 1 1873 Cope Pacific Region Repts. and batrchs . 2 1874 Porter Pacific Region Plants . 1 1876 Wallace Californian Subregion . . . Animals . 2 1878 Allen Western Province Animals . 2 1883 Packard Western Province Animals . 1 1883 Jordan Pacific Region Mollusks . 3 1884 Drude Californian District Plants . 2 1886 Hartlaub Californian Region Birds . 2 1887 Heilprin Californian Subregion . . . Animals . 2 1887 Brendel Californian Flora Plants . 1 1889 Ridgway Pacific District Birds . 2 * Engler's ' California Coast Province ' is not included in this table, be cause it consists only of the narrow strip of land between the Coast Range and the Pacific. t Named from the Sierra Nevada not the State of Nevada. 1 4 Mcrriam Geographic Distr I b { dion of Life. Austroriparian or Louisianian Division. (South Atlantic and Gulf States.) Latreille, as early as 1817, called attention to the difference in the insect fauna of Carolina and Georgia from that of Pennsyl vania and New York, and in his division of the earth into cir- cumpolar zones ran the boundary line between these faunas at latitude 36. The difference in the flora of the South Atlantic and Gulf States from that of the Northern States was recognized by the Danish botanist Schouw as early as 1822 in the ' Realm of Mag nolias, or Parses Realm? which he then proposed for the region between the parallels of 30 and 36 north latitude. Thirty- four years later (in 1856) the northern boundary of the same area was run by America's greatest botanist, Dr. Asa Gray, along the parallel of 36 30', only half a degree from Schouw's line. The first zoologist to recognize this region was the elder Binney, who died in 1847. His posthumous work on Terrestrial Air- Breathiny Mollusks, published in 1851, describes it under the name 1 Tertiary Region of the Atlantic Coast a/nd the Gulf of Mexico.'' The elder Agassiz recognized it in 1854 as one of his seven primary regions, naming it the Louisianian Fauna. Later writers, except Cope, have considered it a subdivision of the Eastern Forest region. Cope restored it to primary rank in 1873 and named it the Austroriparian Region. The extent to which this region has been recognized will ap pear from the following table : Date Author Name given to region Based on Rank 1817 Latreille Supertropical Climate. . . Insects 1 1822 Schouw Realm of Magnolias .... Plants 1 1836 Meyen Subtropical Zone Plants 1 1837 Martius Mississippi-Flo ridian Plants 1 Realm. 1838 Berghaus Realm of Magnolias .... Plants 1 1851 Binney (A.) Tertiary Region of At- Mollusks 2 lantic and Gulf coasts. 1853 Schmarda Middle American Realm. Animals 1 1854 Agassiz Louisianian Fauna Animals 3 1856 Gray Southern States Plants 1 1859 Le Conte. .... Southern Province Insects 2 1859 Cooper Carolinian and Missis- Forests 2 sippian. 1863 Binney (W.G.) Southern Region Mollusks 2 1866 Baird Southern Subdivision. . . Birds 2 1866 Verrill Louisianian Fauna Birds 2 1871 Allen Louisianian Fauna Birds 3 Sonoran Division. 15 I)-Bioi.. S,M-., WASH., VOL. VII, 1S!2. 34 Merriam Geographic Distribution of Life. families to which they respectively belong. In explanation of this extended range it is found that these genera inhabited North America in pre-glacial times and as a consequence have become acclimatized to a wider range of climatic conditions. The semi- Tropical belt of Florida is not known to possess any . tropical mammals except bats and a large indigenous mouse (Sitomys macropus)*, but it has not been explored by experienced mam mal collectors. Still, its recent origin and complete isolation from other tropical areas would indicate the absence of ter restrial species derived from the south. At the same time it is known to be rich in tropical plants, land shells, insects, and birds, as is shown in another part of the present paper (see pp. 51-53). It contains 9 genera of tropical birds, namely, Zenaida, Geotrygon, StarnceJias, Rostrhamus, Polyborus, Crotophaga, Euetheia, CaUicheli- don, and Cosreba. The following 62 genera of mammals belong to the North American Tropical Region. The nine preceded by the letter S enter the southern United States, which they penetrate varying distances. Nyctinomus and Otopterus inhabit the Lower Sonoran Zone in common with the Tropical ; Didelphis pushes completely through the humid division of the Sonoran Region ; and Fell* and Procyon enter the lower edge of the Boreal. NORTH AMERICAN TROPICAL GENERA. Chironectes S Felis Lonchorhina S Didelphis S Procyon 8 Otopterus Bradypus Bassaricyon Vampyrus Cholcepus S Nasua Micronycteris Myrmecophaga Cercoleptes Trachyops Tamandua Galictis Phyllostoma Cycloturas Solenodon Minion S Tatusia Natalus Hemiderma S Dicotyles Rhynchonycteris Glossophaga Elasmogiiathus Saccopteryx Phyllonycteris Capromys Diclidurue Monophylla Plagiodontia Noctilio Leptonycteris Echinomys ^S' Molossus Glossonycteris Synetheres S Nyctinomus rhnx, CaniSj and Lutra, each of which ranges over large parts of both Boreal and Sonoran Regions. All except Spermo- phiiiis inhabit the Tropical Region also, and all are of great an tiquity, as will be shown presently (p. 37). The genera Spermo- l>liiltis and Lepus might be referred to the Sonoran Region because the great majority of their species are confined to it; and for the same reason Sciurus might be considered Tropical and Sono ran. Omitting Mexico and Central America, and regarding the nine intrusive Tropical genera already mentioned as Sonoran (in con tradistinction to Boreal), it is found that eighty-one genera of non-pelagic mammals inhabit the United States and Canada, of which forty-three may be looked upon as of Sonoran origin and thirty-one as of Boreal origin. The seven genera remaining are those mentioned in the last paragraph. 36 Merrlam. Geographic Distribution of Life. TABLE SHOWING THE GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF NORTH AMERICAN GENERA OF NON-PELAGIC MAMMALS OCCURRING NORTH OF MEXICO. Boreal Genera. Cervus Arvicola * Ursus ' ; " Rangifer Fiber * Thalarctos Alee Evotomys Latax Ovis * Phenacomys Gulo Mazama Myodes Mustela Bison (?) Cuniculus Lutreola * Ovibos Zapus Putorius * Tamias * Erethizon Sorex* Arctomys Lagomys Neurotrichus (?) Aplodontia Vulpes* Condylura Castor * Sonoran Genera. Cariacus f Perodipua Notiosorex Aiitilocapra Microdipodops Blarinaf Cynomys Perognathus Scapanus Reithrodontomys Heteromys Scalops Onychomys Lynx f Coryiiorhinus Sitomysf Urocyon Euderma Oryzomys Bassariscus Antrozous Sigmodon Taxidea Nycticejus Neotoma f Conepatus Vesperugo t Geomys Mephitis t Atalapha f Thomoniys Spilogale Vespertilio t Dipodomys Tropical Genera. Didelphis Felis t Molossus Tatusia Procyon f Nyctinomus Dicotyles Nasua ( )topterus Transition Zone Genera. Synaptomys Genera Inhabiting both Boreal an//'/.-: of flic Ai'itl tioii'>fl> <'(nii)>>n-i''ti;' I>ort> >4 4 7 1 11 27 12 31 25 58 41* 10 100 18 141 P>0f 3 40 9 70 8 18 26 Descending to species, the contrast is even more marked. The above table shows, so far as the genera of mammals and birds are concerned, that the difference between the humid ' Atlantic ' or { Eastern Province ' on the one hand and the arid Great Plains and Great Basin on the other is less than one- fourth as great as the difference between the Sonoran and Boreal Regions. These facts, it seems to me, should suffice to establish beyond dispute the subordinate part played by humidity in compari- sion to temperature, and should dispel any lingering doubts that may stili haunt the minds of conservative naturalists re specting the necessity of abandoning the long accepted division of the United States into Atlantic, Central, and Pacific provinces. REMARKS RESPECTING SOME OF WALLACE'S FALLACIES. Wallace, in his great work on Geographic Distribution, and in subsequent writings on the same subject, greatly underrates the importance of temperature as a factor in determining the distri- * Sitomys and Lyii.r are omitted because they range over most of the forested part of the Boreal Region. t Putoritts isomitted because it ranges over much of the Sonoran Regoin. 7 I.KM.. Snr., WASH., \'u|, VII, IS'.lL'. 50 Merriam Geographic Distribution of Life. button of life. He lays great stress upon the dissimilarity of the faunas and floras of parts of Africa, South America, and Aus tralia lying in the same latitude and calls particular attention to the circumstance that although the climate may be identical over these widely separated areas, the species and higher groups are totally distinct, because the regions have been disconnected since early geologic times as if these facts were not self-evident. On the other hand, in single continental areas where there is no break or barrier of any kind between widely different faunal zones, he tries to invent some unnatural reason for the differences observed and is reluctant to admit that even in these cases climate or climatic conditions can constitute the barriers to dis persion that undoubtedly exist. He says of climate : ".Probably its action is indirect, and is determined by its influence on vege tation, and by bringing diverse groups into competition." In another place he states : " Hot countries usually differ widely from cold Ones in all their organic forms ; but the differ ence is by no means constant, nor does it bear any proportion to difference of temperature. Between frigid Canada and sub tropical Florida there are less marked differences in the animal productions than between Florida and Cuba or Yucatan, so much more alike in climate and so much nearer together." He states further : " The eastern United States possess very peculiar and interesting plants and animals, the vegetation becoming more luxuriant as we go south but not altering in essential character; so that when we reach the southern extremity of Florida we still find ourselves in the midst of oaks, sumacs, magnolias, vines, and other characteristic forms of the temperate flora ; while the birds, insects, and land-shells are almost iden tical with those found further north. But if we now cross over the narrow strait, about fifty miles wide, which separates Florida from the Bahama Islands, we find ourselves in a totally different country, surrounded by a vegetation which is essentially tropical and generally identical with that of Cuba. The change is most striking, because there is no difference of climate, of soil, or apparently of position, to account for it." (Island Life, 1880, p.o.) Let us examine this statement with some care to see if the facts warrant the assertions and conclusions of the author. But first let me protest against Wallace's habit of contrasting insular faunas with those of continuous land areas, in his efforts to mini mize the effects of climate. In most cases the great majority of Fauna of Canada and Fhrida. 51 forms peculiar to an island have no means of reaching the nearest continuous land, but in the present instance, as will be shown later, the proximity of Cuba and the Bahamas to Florida, favored by the direction of the Gulf Stream and the prevalence of hurri canes blowing from the Antilles to the Peninsula, have enabled a multitude of West Indian plants, insects, birds, and even land- shells to reach southern Florida, though the breadth of the strait is an effective bar to the passage of terrestrial mammals and reptiles. \Vallace boldly tells us, without attempt at qualification, that " between frigid Canada and sub-tropical Florida there are less marked differences in the animal productions than between Florida and Cuba." Frigid Canada, in eastern North America, is the home of the Eskimo, polar bear, musk oxen, reindeer, lemmings, marmots, beavers, muskrats, porcupines, wolverines, sables, shrews, star-nosed moles, and several other mammals, comprising in all 20 genera, not one of which occurs in southern Florida.* Florida, on the other hand, is inhabited by opossums, harvest mice, rice-field mice, cotton rats, wood rats, pocket go phers, gray foxes, spotted skunks, big-eared bats, and other forms, representing 18 genera and 5 families of mammals that do not occur in frigid Canadaf. In the case of birds, eastern Canada has 26 genera that do not reach Florida, among which may be mentioned ptarmigans, grouse, rough-legged hawks, golden eagles, great gray owls, snowy owls, Acadian owls, hawk owls, tbree-toed woodpeckers, Canada jays, pine bullfinches, cross bills, linnets, snow buntings, titlarks, winter wrens, kinglets, and stone chats, J Avhile Florida has at least 37 genera that do * The following 20 genera of mammals inhabit eastern Canada, but none of them reach southern Florida : Rangifer, Alee, Ovibos, Tamias, Sper- ii i <>j >li if i ix, Arctomys, Castor, Fiber, Armcola, Evotomya, PJienacomys, My odes, (^'uiilcitfiiH, Zapus, Erethizon, Thcdarctos, Gulo, Mustela, Condylura, Scapanus, Storex. fThe following 13 genera of mammals inhabit Florida, but none of them reach " frigid Canada : " Didrlphis, Reithrodontomys, Oryzomys, Sig- modon, Ncotoma, Geomys, Uroci/ou, Procijou, Sp'doyale, Corynorhinus, Nyctice- jtix, Xi/rfhtonnis, Otojih'ritx. The o families are: Didelphidte, Geomyidse, Procyonid&, Embattonuridse, PhyttostomcUidss, + The following 2(> genera of l)irds breed in eastern Canada, but none of them in Florida : Dendragapu/, Bonawi, LagopUs, Archibuteo, Aquila, Scotiaptex, Nydala t Nycteci t Sumia, / > /V'o/V//-x, Sphyrapicus, Peritoreus, Doli- ckoiiy.i; Pinicolu, Lo.ria, A<-nntlii, Plecttophenax, ('(t/<-(n-itix, Zonotrichia, , Paxsa'clla, Aittlin*, Ainnilnn'ilo, ( 'ai'dlintlix, GuiTOCQ,, Euetheid, ('ertliio/o, ProtonatorHi, Ilclinaui, Ifelntitfierus, Icteria, Mitntts, ffo/rporhyttchwi, ThryotfaoruS) PolioptUct. Tropical Fauna of Florida. 53 hitherto been supposed, the number in Coleoptera alone amounting, according to a very low estimate based upon my collection, to at least 300 species not yet in our catalogues."' (Entomologica Americana, IV, No. 9, 1888.) Since the above was published, Mr. Schwarz has had the kindness to inform me that this semitropical insect fauna of southern Florida com prises in all not less than 1,000 species of West Indian or Antillean insects (of which about half are Coleoptem\ and 50 genera of Coleoptera and Heteroptera alone;* hence the total number of genera must be very considerable. Among the Mollusca, Dr. Win. H. Dall informs me that 20 species or specific types of Antillean land shells are known to inhabit southern Florida, representing 13 genera or subgenera not found further north. f So far as vegetation is concerned, the case is even stronger, there being upwards of 350 genera of plants in Florida that do not inhabit Canada ; and Professor Charles S. Sargent, in speak ing of the trees of southern Florida, states : " A group of arbores cent species of West Indian origin occupies the narrow strip of coast and islands of southern Florida. * * * This semitrop ical forest belt reaches Cape Malabar on the east coast and the shores of Tampa Bay on the west coast. * * * The species of which it is composed here reach the extreme northern limit of their distribution ; they are generally small, stunted, and of comparatively little value. Certain species, however, attain re- *Mr. Schwarz has kindly given me the following list of families of Central American Coleoptera, indicating the number of genera in each family known to inhabit Semitropical Florida, but not found elsewhere in North America: Ccx intruhilix Muhlf. ; Pcdipes doixjaliix Dall; IVf.ntorbis in Pfr. ; H}>li." decree of heat in disconnected land areas a manifest impossi bility but that well marked zones of animal and plant life are encountered in all parts of the earth in passing from the poles to the tropics ; that they owe their existence to constant differ ences of temperature, and that in continuous land areas each zone may be traced completely across such areas [from ocean to ocean in those of continental magnitude], following the windings of the belts of equal temperature during the period of reproduc tive activity. Wallace speaks thus of this law as formulated by Allen : " The author [J. A. Allen] continually refers to the ' law of the distribu tion- of life, tit circumpol&r zone*, 7 as if it were one generally accepted and that admits of -no dispute. But this supposed 'law ' only applies to the smallest detail of distribution to the range and increasing or decreasing numbers of species as we pass from north to south, or the reverse; while it has little bearing on the great features of zoological geography the limitations of groups of (> Merriam Geographic Distribution of Life. MOUNTAINS AS BARRIERS TO DISPERSION. Wallace makes the surprising statement that on the two sides of the Rocky Mountains in America " almost all the mammalia, birds, and insects are of distinct species "* a statement that is wholly untrue, as has been long known to American naturalists. In another place he makes the general statement that mountains, " when rising to a great height in unbroken ranges, form an im passable barrier to many groups." No instance of this kind is known in North America. Even in the High Sierra in California nearly all of the families, genera, and species occur on the east slope as well as on the west, notwithstanding the great altitude this lofty range maintains for a considerable distance.! The ex planation of the similarity or identity of the species on the two sides of all our mountain systems is that similar or identical climatic zones occur on both sides, between which avenues . of communication exist or have existed by means of passes, either through the ranges themselves or at one end or the other. In their continuity, however, lofty mountain ranges do act as bar riers to the spread of species from lower levels, but they do so indirectly by their effects upon climate by interposing an arctic zone in which the species of lower latitudes cannot live. On the other hand, this same arctic-alpine climate enables many polar species to thrive in regions two or three thousand miles south of their normal continental homes. The great Himalaya has little or no influence in bringing about the really enormous differences that exist between the faunas and floras of the plains on its two sides, for these dissim ilarities are due primarily to the great difference of temperature resulting from unequal base-level, the Thibetan plateau on the north being several thousand feet higher than the plain on the south. THE SO-CALLED EASTERN, CENTRAL, AND WESTERN PROVINCES AND THE EVIDENCE ON WHICH THEY ARE BASED. Wallace, in common with most recent writers, divides the United States into Eastern, Central or Rocky Mountain, and * Geog. Dist. of Animals, I, 1870, p. 0. t For 320 kilometers (200 miles) the Sierra Nevada Mountains maintain an elevation of 3,1 00 to 4,<>00 meters (12,000 to 15,000 feet). Eastern, Central, and Western Provinces. 57 Pacific or California!! ' subrcgions/ He admits that the Eastern division is characterized by but a single mammalian genus, namely, the star-nosed mole (Oondylura). In characterizing the so-called Central or Rocky Mountain subregion, he states that the prong-horned antelope, the moun tain goat, the mountain sheep, and the prairie dog are peculiar to it, forgetting that the antelope ranges from the Mexican plateau northward over the Great Plains and Great Basin, and westward over much of California ; that the mountain goat inhabits British Columbia and the Cascade Range as well as the Rocky Moun tains ; that the mountain sheep is common in the High Sierra in California and ranges northward to the Arctic Circle in Alaska ; leaving the prairie dog as the only one confined to the region. The Pacific or ' California,!! subregion' he defines as " tin- comparatively narrow strip of country between the Sierra Nevada and the Pacific. To the north it may include Vancouver's Island and the southern part of British Columbia." Under the head of the mammalia of this area, he enumerates 8 genera as " not found in any other part of the Nearctic region," namely, Macrotus, Antrowwt) Urotrichuti) Neooorex, Bassaris, Enhydra, Morunga, and Haploodon. A more erroneous statement could hardly be made. Of the two pelagic genera, Morunga and Enhydm [= Latax], the former does not enter the region at all and the latter barely reaches it ; while of the non-pelagic genera three, J/c/r/'o///x[= Otop- terus], Antrozous, and Bassaris [= Baasariscus], range over the Sonoran region from Texas and the Mexican plateau across New Mexico, Arizona, and parts of southern Nevada and California; and the subgenus Neosorex occurs over pretty much the whole of Boreal America from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The two remaining genera only are confined to the California!! division, n&nie]y,Urotriehu8 [==Neurotrichus] and Haploodon [saAplodontia]. Both are isolated types, inhabiting the Pacific coast country from northern California to British Columbia (the latter having no near relative in any part of the world, the former closely related to genera now living in Eastern Asia). Hence it appears, so far as the mammalia are concerned, that these three supposed primary subdivisions of North America rest upon a misconception of fact, the CnJifomhin division pos sessing two peculiar genera, and the Eastern and Central divisions but a single peculiar genus each a quantity of difference it would be absurd to recognize as of sufficient weight to warrant the erection of zoogeographical divisions. M-BIOI.. Sor., WASH., VOL. VII, 1*112. 58 Merriam Geographic Distribution of Life. In a communication already referred to (North American Fauna, No. 3, September, 1890) I stated the conclusion that the commonly accepted division of the United States into Eastern, Middle, and Western Provinces had no existence in nature, and that " the whole of extratropical North America [the Nearctic region of Sclater and Wallace] consists of but two primary life regions, a Boreal region, which is circumpolar; and a Sonoran or Mexican Table-land region which is unique." The so-called East ern Province is mainly of Sonoran derivation, comprising the humid divisions of the Lower Sonoran and Upper Sonoran Zones (Austroriparian and Carolinian faunas), and of the Transition or Neutral Belt commonly known among ornithologists as the Alleghanian fauna. It contains also a southward extension of the Boreal Region along the Appalachian mountain system mainly in the form of isolated islands. The so-called Central Region in like manner is made up of u southward extension of the Boreal Region along the Rocky Moun- ain plateau, enclosed between two northward prolongations of the arid Sonoran, the one occupying the Great Plains, the other the Great Basin. The so-called Pacific or Western Province consists of a south ward extension of the Boreal Region which finally bifurcates, sending a long arm south over the Cascade Range and the Sierra , Nevada, and a secondary and shorter arm along the Pacific coast north of San Francisco, together with a Sonoran element which covers nearly the whole southern part of the state and reaches north in the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys. PALJSARCTIC AND NEARCTIC REGIONS. It is no part of the purpose of the present address to discuss the distribution of life outside of our own continent, but it so happens that the Boreal element in America resembles that of Eurasia so closely that in the judgment of many eminent authorities the two constitute but a single primary region a view in which I heartily concur. This arrangement is antago nistic to that proposed by Sclater* in 1857 and adopted with slight modification by Wallace. Sclater considers the whole of extratropical North America as constituting a single region, *Journ. Linn. Soc. (Zool.), II (for 1S57), 18f)8, 1JJO-145; mid jijrnin, with Bome alterations, in Ibis, sixth series, III, 1891, 514-557. Nearctic and Palscarctic Regions. 59 upon which he bestowed the name Nearctic, in contradistinction to the corresponding part of Eurasia, which he named Palsearctic, believing the two to be distinct primary regions. Wallace, the great champion of Sclater's Palsearctic and Xearctic regions, says of the former in his most recent work on geographic distribution : " Taking first the mammalia, we find this region is distinguished by its possession of the entire family of Talpidse or Moles, consisting of 8 genera and 16 species, all of which are confined to it except one which is found in Northwest America, and two which extend to Assam and Formosa.' 1 (Island Life, 1880, 41.) How he could have made such an erroneous statement is hard to understand, in view of the well-known fact that three genera of moles inhabit eastern North America and two the Pacific coast region ; and it is the more strange since on another page of the same work he states that there are three peculiar genera of moles in North America.* He states further : "Among carnivorous animals the lynxes (9 species) and the badgers (2 species) are peculiar to it [the Palsecrctic region] in the old world, while in the new the lynxes are found only in the colder regions of North America " (Island Life, 1880, 41), thus implying that there are no badgers in North America, and ignoring the presence of lynxes all along the south ern border of the United States from Florida and Texas to south ern California. Continuing, he mentions a number of groups which, he says, " have only a few species elsewhere.' 1 Among these are the " voles, dormice, and pikas." Pikas inhabit the mountains of western Canada and range south in the Cascades and High Sierra to southern California, and in the Rocky Moun tains to Colorado. They have been reported also from the high mountains of Lower California in Mexico. The group of voles or Arvicolinfe-j exclusive of the lemmings, is represented in Boreal North America by not less than 4 genera, 5 subgenera, and nearly 50 species. It is only fair to add, however, that some of these have been described since Wallace's book was written " The Nearctic region is so similar to the Pala^arctic in position *In his earlier work he says: "('ondi/lnm (I species), the star-nosed mole, inhabits eastern North America from Xova Scotia to Pennsylvania ; SrdpuH-na (2 species) ranges across from New York to San Francisco ; Sca- li>)tx (3 species), the shrew moles, range from Mexico to the Great Lakes. % * * Urotrichus is a shrew-like mole which inhabits Japan, and a second species has been discovered in the mountains of British Colum bia." (Geog. Dist. of Animals, II, 1876, 190.)' 60 Jlerriaui Geographic Distribution of Life. and climate," he admits. " and the two so closely approach each other at Bering Strait, that we cannot wonder at there being a certain amount of similarity between them a similarity which some naturalists have so far overestimated as to think that the two regions ought to be united." After enumerating a number of mammals common to the two he goes on to say : " We un doubtedly find a very close resemblance between the two regions, and if this were all, we should have great difficulty in separating them. But along with these we find another set of mammals, not quite so conspicuous but nevertheless very important. We have first, three peculiar genera of moles, one of which, the star- nosed mole, is a most extraordinary creature, quite unlike any thing else. Then there are three genera of the weasel family, including the well-known skunk (Mephitis), all quite different from eastern forms. Then we come to a peculiar family of car- nivora, the raccoons, very distinct from anything in Europe or Asia ; and in the Rocky Mountains we find the prong-horned antelope (Antttocapra) and the mountain goat of the trappers (Aplocerus [ Manama?]), both peculiar genera. Coming to the rodents, we find that the mice of America differ in some dental peculiarities from those of the rest of the world, and thus form several distinct genera ; the jumping mouse (Xapus\_=Zapnx]) is a peculiar form of the jerboa family ; and then we come to the pouched rats ( Greomyidse), a very curious family consisting of four genera and nineteen species, peculiar to North America, though not confined to the Nearctio region. The prairie dogs {Cynomys), the tree porcupine (Erethizon), the curious scwellel (Haploodon [=Aplodontid\), and the opossum (Didelphw) com plete the list of peculiar mammalia which distinguish the north ern region of the new world from that of the old." (Island Life, p. 48.) As already shown in an earlier part of the present essay, most of these genera and several of the families belong to the austral or Sonoran region and have no place in the Boreal fauna the only one that can be compared with the fauna of northern Eurasia. As a matter of fact, 81 genera of non-pelagic mammals are now recognized in ' extratropical ' North America the so- called Nearctic Region. Of this number 41 are found in no other part of the world.*' These genera are enumerated in the follow- *The intrusive genera J)i>/r//il/i^ 7/////X/V/, Diroli/h'*, /Vfw//w<, XHXIUI, and s, which are clearly of South American origin, are not here included. Peculiar Genera of Xortli American, Mammals. 61 ing table, which brings out the important fact that no less than 32, or 78 percent, are of Sonoran or austral origin, while only 9, or 22 percent, are of Boreal origin. Of these 9 genera now con fined to North America, ethos inhabited polar Eurasia in Pleis tocene times ; Neurotrkhu* is not recognized by Flower and Lydekker as more than subgenerically separable from Urotrichus of Japan, and Synaptomys is not known except from the Transi tion Zone of the United States and is here classed as Boreal be cause of its close relationship to the transcontinental Boreal genus Myodes. Omitting these three, Boreal North America has but 6 genera of mammals not known from Boreal Eurasia. PECULIAR GENERA OF MAMMALS INHABITING NORTH AMERICA NORTH OF MEXICO Mazama Ovibos Aploclontia Fiber Synaptomys Of Boreal Zap us Erethizon Xeurotrichus Condvlura Cariacus Antilocapra Cynomys Reithrodontomys Sitomys Oryzoiny.s Onychomys Sigmodon Neotoma Thomomys Geomys Dipodomys Perodipus Microdipodops Perognathus Heteromvs Urocyon Bassariscus Tax idea Conepatus Mephitis Spilogale Notiosorex Seal ops Scapanus Blarina-- Antrozotis Nycticejus Otopterus Corynorhinus Etiderma Atalapha On the other hand, out of the 31 Boreal genera of North Amer ican mammals the following 24 genera, or 77 percent, are com mon to Boreal America and Boreal Eurasia : 62 Merria'ni Geographic Distribution of Life. Cervus Cuniculus Rangifer Lagomys Alee Yulpes Ovis Ursiis Bison Thalarctos Tamias Latax Arctomys Lutreola Castor Putorius Phenacomys Mustela Evotomys Gulo Arvicola Sorex My odes Urotrichus * In addition to the foregoing genera, which are clearly of Bo real origin, the following 12 genera of more extended range are also common to the two continents : Sciuropterus Kelis Sciuras Lynx Spermophilus Vesperugo Lepus Vespertilio Canis Plecotusf Lutra Nyctinomus Most of these genera are known to be of great antiquity, their remains having been found in Miocene strata, and it is probable that the others belong to the same category, but have thus far escaped detection, owing to their very small size. All of them attain their maximum development and numbers in the Sonoran Region in America and the analogue of the Sonoran in Eurasia; but by reason of the great length of time that has elapsed since they came into existence some of their representatives have be come acclimated to a wide range of climatic conditions. Dr. John L. Le Conte, in his report on the Coleoptera of Lake Superior, said : u The entomologist cannot fail to be struck with two very remarkable characters displayed by the insect fauna of these northern regions. First, the entire absence of all those groups which are peculiar to the American continent [/. c.. Sono ran and Tropical groups]. * * * The few new genera which *As stated above, Flower and Lydekker do not recognize the American animal as genetically distinct from Urotrichus. While I agree with Dob- son in according it generic rank, it is convenient, in studying the origin of groups, to bring together such closely related types. , fThe American species of Plecotnx are separated generic-ally by Dr. Harrison Allen under the name CorynorMnus, which is adopted by the writer. The more comprehensive name Plecutas is here used for the rea son just stated under Urotnchus. Nearctic and Paltmrctic Regions. 63 I have ventured to establish are not to be regarded as exceptions. They arc all closely allied to European forms, and by no means members of groups exclusively American. ' Secondly, the deficiency caused by the disappearance of char acteristic forms is obviated by a large increase of the members of genera feebly represented in the more temperate regions, and also by the introduction of many genera heretofore regarded as confined to the northern part of Europe and Asia. Among these latter are many species which can be distinguished from their foreign analogues only by the most careful examination. This parallelism is sometimes most exact, running not merely through the genera, but even through the respective species of which they are composed." (Lake Superior, 1850, 239-240.) \Y. F. Kirby, in a paper ' On the Geographical Distribution of the Diurnal Lepidoptera as compared with that of Birds,' states : " Had I been dealing with Lepidoptera only, I would certainly have united Dr. Sclater's l Pahearctic Region ' and ' Nearctic Region;' for although 'the species of North American Rhopa- locera are seldom identical with those of northern Asia and Europe, still the genera are the same with scarcely an exception, except a few representatives of South American genera, which have no more right to be considered Nearctic species than the similar chance representatives of African forms in North Africa oi- South west Europe, or of Indian forms in Southeast Europe, have to be considered Pala^arctic species'." (Journ. Linnean Soc. London, Zool. 1873, 432.) It now becomes evident that the so-called Palaearctic and Ne arctic regions are the result, in each case, of confounding and combining two wholly distinct regions the Boreal with the So- noran in America and the Boreal with the analogue of the Sono- ran in Eurasia. Eliminating these austral elements as wholly foreign to the region to which they have been so persistently attached, there remains a single great Circumpolar Boreal region characterized by a remarkably homogeneous fauna, covering the northern parts of America and Eurasia. Cope has shown that the chief differences between Boreal America and Boreal Eurasia are found among the fishes and batrachians animals living wholly or in part in water. Now it cannot be insisted too strongly that while the chief factor in the distribution of aquatic animals and plants is temperature, as lias been long acknowledged, yet from the very nature of the case the resulting life regions must bo different the one supple- (>4 Merriam Geographic Distribution of Life. meriting or being the complement of the other for water being the medium in which the species live, the bodies of water with their prolongations and extensions, as bays, rivers, and lakes, must be studied as entities, just as we study a continent with its peninsulas and outlying islands the means of access to a given body of water being the principal factor in determining the water-area to which its aquatic life belongs. And it should be remarked that aquatic mammals, as seals and cetaceans, and aquatic birds, as ducks and gulls, conform in the main to the laws and areas of aquatic distribution and should not be taken into account in studying the distribution of terrestrial forms of life. Gill has said with much truth : " There appears to be a total want of correlation between the inland and marine faunas, and a positive incongruity, and even contrast, between the two.'' (Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash.. II, 1884, 32.) PRINCIPLES ON WHICH BIO-GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS SHOULD BE ESTABLISHED. Wallace, in writing of the principles on which Zoological regions should be formed, expresses the opinion that " conveni ence, intelligibility, and custom, should largely guide us. 1 ' But I quite agree with America's most distinguished and philosophic writer on distribution, Dr. J. A. Allen, that in marking off' the life regions and subregions of the earth, truth should not be sacrificed to convenience ; and I see no reason why a homo geneous circumpolar fauna of great geographic extent should be split up into primary regions possessing comparatively few peculiar types simply because a water separation happens to exist in the present geologic period ; nor is it evident why one of the resulting feeble divisions should be granted higher rank than a region of much less geographic extent comprising several times as many peculiar types. Hence the divisions here recog nized, and the rank assigned them, are based as far as possible upon the relative numbers of distinctive types of mammals, birds, reptiles, and plants they contain, with due reference to the steady multiplication of species, genera, and higher groups from the poles toward the tropics. Mammals have been chiefly used as illustrations because they answer the purpose better than any other single group, and because it is clearly impossible in a brief essay of this character to enumerate such a multitude of forms as would be necessary were equal consideration accorded to each class. VOL. VII, PP. 65-so MAY, 1892 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW PLANTS FROM SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, NEVADA, UTAH, AND ARIZONA. BY FREDERICK VERNON COVILLE * In January, 1891, an expedition was sent out by the United States Department of Agriculture to make a biological survey of Death Valley, in southeastern California, and the adjacent regions. As several months must elapse before the report on the botany of the expedition can be presented to the public, the following descriptions of new plants are now published with the consent of the department authorities. Aplopappus interior sp. nov. Related to A. linearifolius DC., but differing in its shorter leaves (12 to 20 mm.), subulate-bracteate peduncles, shorter acute in- volucral bracts, and smaller rays 9 to 11 mm. long. In A. linearifolius the larger leaves are 30 to 40 mm. long, the peduncles leafy-bracted, the involucral bracts 11 to 14 mm. long, includ ing the filiform-subulate acumination, and the rays 13 to 15 mm. long. Type specimen in the United States National Herbarium, No. 794, Death Valley 'Expedition ; collected May 20, 1891, about four miles southeast from Mill Canon divide, at the northern * Presented at a meeting of the Biological Society of Washington, April K), 1892. it Bioi.rSoc., WASH., Vor. VII, 1802. ((Jo) 66 Coville New Plants from Southern California, edge of the Darwin Mesa, Inyo County, California, by Frederick V. Coville. A. linear if olius. first collected in California by Douglas, prob ably near San Francisco or Monterey, is known only from the coast ranges southward from San Francisco bay. A. interior is a species of the desert mountains, and has been collected in the higher elevations of the Lower Sonoran region from southern Utah, northwestern Arizona, and Inyo County, California, south ward to the extra-coastal region of San Diego County. Arctomecon merriami sp. nov. Plant apparently perennial, from a thick woody root, branch ing into a broad cSespitose tuft 10 cm. or less high ; leaves cune- ate-oblanceolate, 2 to 3 cm. long, tapering below into a margined petiole, tridentate at the truncate apex, glaucous, clothed with very long (about 1 cm.), white, spreading, flexuous, barbellate hairs ; upper leaves sessile, often entire and acute or obtuse at the apex ; peduncles several, erect, 20 to 35 cm. high, glabrous, glau cous, rarely with a bract (similar to the leaves) below ; flower sin gle, in bud inclined to nod ; sepals usually 3, hairy like the leaves, caducous; petals usually 6, white, obcordate, 3 to 3.5 cm. long, deciduous ; stamens very numerous ; anthers 3 to 4 mm. long when wet ; filaments slender, glabrous, some of them conspicu ously broader above; ovary narrowly oblong, 1-celled, with 6 or 7 parietal placentae ; style about 1.5 mm. long and broad ; stigma capitate and with a stigmatic line opposite each placenta ; cap sule linear-oblong, in our specimens 3.5 to 4.1 cm. long ; valves splitting down at the apex for a distance of 8 mm. ; seeds not seen. Type specimen in the United States National Herbarium, No- 1890, Death Valley Expedition; collected May 1, 1891, a few miles west of Vegas ranch, Lincoln County, Nevada, by C. Hart Merriam and Vernon Bailey. This plant differs from A. californicum it its usually 1-flowered bractless peduncles, long-hairy sepals, white petals, longer dilated filaments, linear-oblong ovary and capsule (4 cm. long), and evr dent style. A. californicum has, on the other hand, 6- to 20-flow- ered, leafy -bracted peduncles, glabrous sepals-, deep yellow petals, filaments of uniform width, obovoid ovary, sessile stigma, and an ovate capsule about 1.5 cm. long. This beautiful poppy is dedicated to Dr. C. Hart Merriam as a token of his influence in the progress of geographic botany. Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. 67 Arctomecon humile sp. nov. In 1874 Dr. C. C. Parry collected in the vicinity of St. George, Utah, an Arctomecon, which Dr. Gray referred* to A. calif or- niciun. The material now in hand shows that it is distinct both from the original plant of Fremont and from the species just described. It differs from the former in its smaller size through out, less hairy leaves, fewer flower parts, white petals, dilated filaments, and the presence of a style ; from A. merriami in its smaller size and more scanty hairs, more than 1-flowered pe duncles, fewer flower parts, persistent petals, and obovate, sev eral times shorter capsule. Typo specimen in the Harvard Herbarium. The genera duibya and Arctomecon are describedf as distin guishable by their stigmas ; in the former opposite the placenta?, in the latter opposite the valves. In Arctomecon merriami the capitate stigma is evidently made up of as many parts or lobes as there are placenta?, and each of these parts is directly opposite a valve. Along both lateral margins of each lobe are stigmatic lines, and the union of the two contiguous ones, of adjacent lobes, makes a stigmatic line opposite the placenta. There is nothing in Canbya to show that the stigmatic line, which is there also opposite the placenta, was not derived in the same way yet the two genera are sufficiently characterized by their gen eral differences. Aranaria compacta sp. nov. Sterns compacted into a dense mat from a thick, woody, many-branched caudex, the densely leafy lower portion 1 cm. or less high ; flowering stems scantily leafy, sparingly cymosely branched, 5 cm. or less high, clothed with short glandular hairs ; leaves awl-shaped, triangular in cross-section, pungent, glandular- ciliate, 5 mm. or less long, squarrose ; those of the flowering stems similar, usually glandular-hairy on the back, erect, passing into scarious bracts above ; flowers single, terminating simple stems, or in open few-flowered cymes ; sepals 5, 2.5 to 3.5 mm. long, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, scarious-inargined, with a thick green midrib excurrent into a point ; petals 5 or 6, oblong-oblanceolate, broadly obtuse; stamens 10 to 12; styles 3 or 4. * Proc. Amer. Acad. Sci, XII, 1877..53, pi. II. t Idem, XII, 1877, 52, and XXII, 1887, 270. 68 Coville New Plants from Southern California, Type specimen in the United States National Herbarium. No. 1653, Death Valley Expedition; collected August 20. 1891, at timber-line on a divide northwest of Whitney Meadows, Sierra Nevada, Tulare County, California, by Frederick V. Coville. The plant is of especial interest because it is evidently a local alpine species derived not from the circumpolar Arenaria biflora and A. arctica, but from some local species of a lower zone, similar to A.fendleri. Its sepals distinguish it at once from the circumpolar plants mentioned above, in which these organs are thin, striate, and obtuse. In habit, however, it closely resembles them, having attained the depressed, matted, shrubby form so protective to plants at high altitudes. Brickellia desertorum sp. m*v. Shrubby, about I in. high; branches minutely white-torn en- tose, becoming glabrous in the second or third year, but still with a white epidermis, afterward gray ; leaves alternate, mi nutely cinereous-tomentose ; petioles 2 to 5 mm. long ; blades deltoid ovate, truncate at the base, crenate-dentate, commonly 3 to 8 mm. long, on vigorous shoots reaching 16 mm. in length ; heads in glomerules of 2 to 4 flowers, on short leafy branches from a main axis, or in the second or third year the branches elongated and divaricate and bearing a single terminal glomerule ; invo lucre 7 to 8 mm. high, about 10- to 12-flowered ; bracts 3-nerved, with traces of minute tomentum, 1 mm. or less wide, bluntly acute, the outermost oblong-lanceolate, all widely recurved after the maturing of the achem'a; achenia 2 mm. long, sparingly short hispid ; pappus scabrous. This plant differs from E. californica in its more shrubby branches, whiter stems, much smaller canescent leaves, and heads smaller throughout. In B. californica the involucres are com monly 10 to 12 mm. long and the bracts obtuse, while the achenia are 3 mm. long. Type specimen in the United States National Herbarium ; col lected November 7, 1889, between Banning and Seven Palms, on the Southern Pacific Railroad, California, by C. R. Orcutt. The type specimen of B. californica was collected by Douglas probably near San Francisco or Monterey. That species is known in the coast region of California from Mendocino county as far south at least as San Diego. Specimens from Utah and Arizona Nevada, Utali, and Arizona. 69 have been referred to B. cali/drnica only with doubt. The new species is known only from the Colorado and Mohave Desert regions. It shows close relationship, too, with the type form of B. reniformw, but differs from it, as from B. californica, in caiies- cence and size of leaves, heads, and achenia. Buddleia utahensis sp. nov. Shrub 20 to 30 cm. high, young branches leaves and calyces densely tomentose ; leaves linear to narrowly linear-oblong, irregularly crenate, with undulate revolute margins, conspicu ously venose-reticulate, 1.5 to 2 cm. long, reflexed or divaricate on petioles 1 to 2 mm. long, Avith smaller leaves axillary-fascicu late ; inflorescence made up of 2 to 4 distinct spheroidal con gested clusters (about 1.5 cm. in diameter and about the same distance apart) of flowers spicately arranged at the extremities of the branches ; bracts subtending the clusters similar to the leaves, the uppermost much smaller ; calyx lobes 1 -nerved ; corolla in dried specimens brownish purple, weathering to straw color, tube tomentose without, lobes widely spreading ; anthers sessile in the throat of the corolla. This plant is closely related to B. marrubiifolia, but is readily distinguished by its spicate flower clusters and narrow leaves. In that species the single sperical head terminates the branches upon a well defined peduncle, while the leaves vary from ovate to obovate with cuneate base. Type specimen in the United States National Herbarium ; collected in 1877 near St. George, southern Utah, by Edward Palmer. The plant has been collected but twice, once in the type lo cality and now at the foot of a limestone cliff just north of Mount ain Spring, near Olcott Peak, Charleston Mountains, Nevada. The former is the most northerly locality known for any species of the genus. B. marrMifolia is known in the United States only in southern Texas. Erigeron calva sp. nov. Apparently biennial, widely branching from the base, 1 cm. high, sparingly canescent with hirsute pubescence; radical leaves very numerous, blade oblong to obovate, 1 to 1.5 cm. long, tapering into a petiole of twice that length ; upper leaves spatulate, becoming much smaller; heads singly pedunculate 70 jCoville New Plants from Southern California, on the branches, 7 to 8 mm. high, hemispherical, with .very many flowers ; involucral bracts narrowly linear, acuminate, hirsute; ray flowers numerous, but with rays minute, pink, and shorter than the disk ; pappus of ray and disk flowers alike, consisting of several long, stout, closely barbellate bristles (4 mm. long), equalling the disk corollas, and a few intermediate much shorter ones; achenium compressed, short villous. This species resembles in general appearance no described Erigeron. Its heads closely resemble those of E, supplex, but that species has no ray flowers whatever. Its pubescence is similar to that of E. concinnus. The specific name refers to the bald appearance of the heads, due to the minuteness of the rays. Type specimen in the United States National Herbarium, No. 870, Death Valley Expedition; collected May 16, 1891, at the foot of the Inyo Mountains, about four miles north of Keeler, California, by Frederick V. Coville. Brysimum asperum perenne Watson, var. nov. Apparently perennial, the old stem-base horizontal or nearly so ; stem erect, 25 to 50 cm. high ; radical leaves oblong to oblan- ceolate, entire or very sparsely denticulate-dentate, tapering into a long petiole, sparsely strigose (like the stem) with the pick- shaped hairs of E. asperum; stem leaves narrowly oblanceolate ; petals light yellow ; fruit wanting. Type specimen in the United States National Herbarium, No. 1487, Death Valley Expedition; collected August 5, 1891, be tween Mineral King and Farewell Gap, Sierra Nevada. Tularo County, California, by Frederick V. Coville. Dr. Watson, in answer to my letter (forwarded to him with the specimens) saying that this plant appeared distinct from E. aspe rum and similar to E. pumilum of Nuttall, determined the plant questionably as a new variety of E. asperum, and sent the follow ing note : " This may be distinct, but it is impossible to define a new species from this material. It has not the habit of 1 E. pumi- lumS which is a very dubious species. Its perennial character, as your specimens show, is not always obvious, and our other high mountain specimens from California and elsewhere do not help to distinguish it from E. asperum" The plant differs conspicu ously from the ordinary Californian form of E. asperum in its yellow instead of orange petals, perennial rootstock, smaller size, less canescent herbage, and broader root-leaves, and, furthermore, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. 71 in its geographic range at a uniformly higher altitude, above the belt of Pinus Jeffrey i, to which, with that of Finns ponder osa, the former appears to be confined. Frasera tubulosa sp. nov. Plant a biennial or short-lived perennial, in our specimens about 60 cm. high ; stem stout, terete, glabrous, glaucous, about 6 mm. thick at the base ; radical leaves in a dense rosette, linear-oblan- ceolate, obtuse, mucronate, reaching 1 cm. in width and 9 cm. in length, usually conduplicate and the apex recurved, thick, minutely scabro-puberulent, glaucous in appearance, its margin white, cartilaginous, entire ; stem leaves similar, becoming smaller above, in whorls of 5 or 6 ; inflorescence a narrow spicate panicle 30 to 40 cm. long, interrupted below, its branches reaching 5 cm. in length, mostly shorter, erect; pedicels 2 to 20 mm. long, erect; sepals 4, linear-subulate, 6 to 8 mm. long, often spinulose-denticulate toward the base ; petals 4, white, oblong- obovate, acuminate, 9 to 11 mm. long, slightly gibbous at the base ; gland on the face of the petal none, but represented by a tube of the same texture, and half as long, as the corolla, in serted over the gibbosity at the base of the petal, split about half way to the base in a direction tangential to the axis of the flower, the posterior lobe slightly larger and both lacerate-fim- briate ; stamens 4, filaments about as long as the sepals, anthers oval, 2 mm. long ; ovary compressed, oblong-lanceolate, taper ing into 2 subulate appressed styles, the whole equalling the stamens ; placenta at the edges of the ovary, not intruded ; ovules 6 to 10, oblong, very thin and flat ; stigmas recurved- spreading, flat, hardly broader than the style ; capsule very flat; valves obovate-oblong, with callous thickened margins and 1 median nerve continued into the stiff subulate persistent style, the whole 12 to 14 mm. long; seed single, lamelliform, oblong, minutely cellular-muriculate, about 5 to 7 mm. long. This plant differs from all other species of the genus in the apparent absence of the petaline gland and in the presence of the tubular nectary described above. The leaves are very similar to those of F. albomarginata, while the form of the inflorescence re sembles that of F. nitida and F. albicaulis. Type specimen in the United States National Herbarium, No. 1598, Ppath Valley Expedition; collected August 17, 1891, in 72 Coville New Plants from Southern California, dry soil under Pinus jcffreyi in the northeast corner of the en closure at Soda Springs, on the north fork of Kern River, Sierra Nevada, Tulare County, California. Gilia setosissima punctata var. nov. Flowers and fruit larger than in the type form ; corolla with tube about 10 mm. long, its lobes 7 to 10 mm. long, white, with purple dots sometimes arranged iu longitudinal lines, and a pair of golden spots at about the middle; capsule (> to 9 mm. long, often with 10 seeds in each of the 3 cells. The plant differs from the type form in the characters above mentioned. In G. setosissima the corolla tube has about the same length, but the lobes are much smaller (8 to 5 mm. long) and cream-colored, with neither purple nor yellow markings, and the capsule is commonly about 5 mm. long with about 5 seeds in a cell. This variety holds the same relation to the type form that G. mat thewsii does to G. schottii. except that in the case of the latter two species the differentiation appears to be complete, while in the former integrades in size and coloration occur. The flowers of G. setosissima, and its variety are regular, erect, and with straight stamens, while those of the other two species are irregular, in serted at an angle or even horizontally, and have ascending stamens. In herbarium specimens this irregularity is oftdn ob scured, and G. schottiiis frequently confounded with G. setosissima. Both G. schottii and G. matthewsii are, however, readily distin guishable from G. setosissima and its variety by a vegetative-char acter which was originally pointed out* by Watson, but which was afterward lost sight of. In the former the lateral bristles of the leaf arise singly, in the latter in twos (rarely singly or in threes), from each hair tubercle. This character is constant. These four plants are very interesting from the standpoint of their genealogical interrelation. The parent form probably was, or was very similar to, G. setosissima ; from this G. schottii developed ; and then, from both these, plants with larger, strikingly colored corollas differentiated. G. setosissima punctata and G. matthewsii respectively. The name adopted for the variety is one used on herbarium specimens by Dr. Gray but never published. Type specimen in the United States National Herbarium, No. 716, Death Valley Expedition; collected April 21, 1891, in Sur- *Bot. Kinu Snrv., 1871, 207. Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. 73 prise Canon. Panamint Mountains, California, by Frederick V. Coville. Isomeris arborea globosa var. nov. Stem not glaucous ; petals ovate, sub-palmately veined ; cap sule globose, truncate or retuse, 2.5 to 3.5 cm. long; seed with a transverse groove between hilum and body ; otherwise as the type form. Our plant differs conspicuously from the type form in the shape of its capsules, a character at once noticeable in the living plant. The stems of the new year's growth in the type form are glaucous . the petals narrowly oblong and pinnately veined ; the capsules oblong, attenuate into the stipe, abruptly tapering at the apex ; and the seeds without a groove between the hilum and the body. The same plant as ours, but without mature fruit, was collected by Xantus de Vesey near Fort Tcjon in 1857-58. Type specimen in the United States National Herbarium, No. 1107, Death Valley Expedition; collected June 24, 1891. on Calicnte Creek, a few miles above Caliente, Kern County, Cali fornia, by Frederick V. Coville. The characteristic distribution of this variety was not ascer tained. It might be expected to be a form modified by proximity to the Mohave Desert, but the type form enters the western por tion of this desert in at least one place, Tehachapi Pass ; and flowering specimens, presumably of the type form, were seen in April about forty milgs from Mohave on the road from that place to Searles' borax establishment. Lepidospartum striatum sp. nov. Shrub 1 to 1.6 m. high, with a stout erect trunk; branches numerous, erect, striate-angled by 3 ribs decurrent from each leaf-base, closely white-tomentose, the ribs resiniferous and gla brous; leaves alternate, filiform-linear, thicker above, acute, slightly spreading, 20 to 25 mm. long, or the upper only 10 mm. ; heads 2 to 5 at the apex of the branch, singly sessile, or very short-pedunclcd, in the axils of leaf-like bracts, 12 to 16 mm. long ; involucre oblong to narrowly oblong, 7 to 10 mm. high; bracts about 9, broadly ovate to narrowly oblong, obtuse, stiff, coria ceous, with narrow membranaceous margin, lanate on the back imbricated, the outer successively shorter; flowers 5; corolla 10 BIOT,. Soc., WASH., VOL. VII, 1W> 74 Coville New Plants from. Southern California, lobes linear-lanceolate, acute, longer than the throat, with mar ginal nerves and an oblong or linear resin duct at the apex ; anthers acutely sagittate at the base; anther-tips obtuse; styles 2 to 2.5 mm. long, linear, bluntly acute but short-hairy so as to appear obtuse; achenium densely villous with spreading long white hairs ; pappus copious, white, of conspicuously scabrous soft bristles. This plant has the general appearance of a Tetradymia, but the involucre and style-tips of Lepidospartum. The branches resemble those of T. glabrata, except that the decurrent leaf-base is made up of three slender ribs instead of one broad line. The leaves too are very similar to the primary ones of that species. The iiivolucral bracts are thoroughly imbricated, and in this respect are quite different from those of any Tetradymia; yet their texture and pubescence arc the same. The pappus and achenia closely resemble those of T. glabrata and T. canescens inermis. The median nerve of the corolla lobes in Tetradymia and in Lepidospartum squamafwm, which are really resin ducts, are here reduced to large linear or oblong apical resin glands not produced to the base of the lobe. The anther tip is really acute but from the hairs about it appears obtuse, and somewhat re sembles that of Tetradymia. The plant forcibly suggests the reuniting of Lepidospartum with Tetradymia, as a subgenus, a position in which Dr. Gray * once placed it, but the involucres of the two genera are of quite different types. Type specimen in the United States National Herbarium, No. 558, Shockley, 1888 ; collected in August, 1888, in Soda Springs Canon, Esmeralda County, Nevada, by W. H. Shockley. Mentzelia reflexa sp. nov. Plant annual, 20 cm. or less high ; stem stout, diffusely branch ing from the base, brownish white and striate when dry, hirsute, as well as the leaves and calyx lobes, with retrosely barbed, as well as with upwardly denticulate, hairs ; leaves from linear-ob- lanceolate below to ovate or even hastate above, short-pctioled or sessile, all irregularly sinuate-dentate or the lowest almost pinnatifid ; flowers single on short usually 1- or 2-leavecl axes in the forks of the stem ; ovary broadly oblong, 4 to 5 mm. long, * Proc. Amer. Acad. Sci., IX, 1874, 207. Nevada,, Utali, and Arizona. 75 hirsute ; calyx lobes triangular-subulate, about 1.5 mm. broad at base by 5 to (5 mm. long ; petals oblong-oblanceolate, tapering to a bluntly acute apex, equalling the calyx lobes ; staminodia none ; stamens 9 to 13, shorter than the calyx ; filaments ex panded at base only, or almost to the apex, to a width of about .5 mm.; anthers small, about as broad as long; placentas 3. broad, fleshy ; ovules about one-half imbedded in the placenta) ; style cleft for about one-third its length, equalling the stamens ; capsule oblong, 8 to 10 mm. long, its pedicel reflexed at the apex ; seeds about 10 or 12 in each capsule, gray, somewhat compressed, angularly obovate or pyriform, slightly constricted below the middle, and with a deep transverse groove on either face along this line, muriculate throughout. This plant appears not to be closely related to any known species of Mentzelia. It resembles in its petals, stamens, and seeds M. torreyi, and in the last of these organs M. tricuspis and its allies. Its characteristic external features are its diffusely branched but stiff habit, its flowers scattered in the forks of the stem, and its reflexed fruiting pedicels. Its seeds resemble those of M. tricuspis. Type specimen in the United States National Herbarium, No. 709, Death Valley Expedition; collected April 21, 1891, in Sur prise Canon, Panamint Mountains, California, by Frederick V. Coville and Frederick Funston. Phacelia perityloides sp. nov. Suffrutescent perennial 10 to 20 cm. high, diffusely branched, densely leafy; stem, as well as branches, leaves, and calyx, viscid with glandular hairs, or at the base densely villous- tomentose ; leaves alternate ; petiole 7 to 15 mm. long ; blade orbicular with truncate to cordate base, crenate-dentate or even lobed, 7 to 12 mm. in diameter, the hairs shorter than on the stem and petiole ; flowers in loose racemes terminating the branches; pedicels 3 to 5 mm. long; calyx about 4 mm. long, the lobes oblong-spatulate, obtuse ; corolla cream-white, spar ingly glandular-hairy, twice as long as the calyx, its narrowly campanulate tube longer than the calyx and its short orbicular lobes abruptly spreading; appendages 10 semilanceolate vertical lamella? free from the filaments ; the 3 veins of each corolla lobe continuing distinct to the base of the tube ; stamens included 76 Coville New Plants from Southern California, in the throat of the corolla; anthers oblong; ovary and included style sparingly short hairy ; style tips very short, divergent ; capsule narrowly ovate, bluntly acute, 3 to 4 mm. long ; seeds apparently very numerous, oblong, aiigulate by compression, scrobiculate, 5 mm. long. The plant closely resembles a small congested specimen of Perityle emoryi. The form of the leaves is very similar to that in P. rotimdifolia, but the plant, while belonging to the subgenus Eutoca, differs from all its species in being suffrutescently peren nial. The cream-white corollas form another conspicuous char acter. Type specimen in the United States National Herbarium, No- 524, Death Valley Expedition; collected March 31, 1891, in Johnson Canon, Panamint Mountains, California, by Frederick V. Coville. Potentilla eremica sp. nov. Plant of the sub-genus Ivesia, perennial, in large tufts from a branched caudex, villous-canescent throughout ; stems few, erect or procumbent, 10 to 20 cm. high, sparingly short-leafed ; rad ical leaves many, the largest 13 cm. long, terete ; leaflets some times 60 pairs, entire, broadly ovate, acute or obtuse, 2 to 2.5 mm. wide, closely imbricated in 2 rows along the.rachis; stem leaves similar, shorter, borne at intervals of about 1 to 2 cm., the uppermost not exceeding 1 cm. in length ; cyme narrow, about 5 cm. long; bracts simple or few-cleft, about 3 mm. long; pedicels 5 to 7 mm. long, erect ; calyx 3 to 4 mm. long, lobes lanceolate-acuminate; calyx bracts ovate; stamens 20; pistils apparently 2 or 3 ; hairs of the receptacle dense, conspicuous, 1 to 1.2 mm. long. This plant was collected in winter, so that only the remains of the inflorescence of the preceding year were found. The leaves at first sight closely resemble those of P. santolinoides. The plant was found in but one place, about two miles east of Watkins' ranch (and about one-half mile south of the " devil's hole r ), in an alkaline limestone marsh on a sloping gravelly mesa, growing with Spartina gracilis, Anemopsis cali/ornica, and Schcenm nigricans. Type specimen in the United States National Herbarium, No. 366, Death Valley Expedition; .collected March 2, 1891, near Watkins' ranch, Ash Meadows, Nye County, Nevada. ^\ccada, Utali, and Arizona. 77 Potentilla purpurascens pinetorum var. nov. Plant csespitoee from a many-branched caudcx ; stems about 3 cm. high ; inflorescence loosely cymose; radical leaves very numerous, 7 to 14 cm. long; lower leaflets about 7 mm. long, 2- divided, the divisions often 2-lobed ; upper leaflets merely 2- lobed ; divisions in both oblong-oblanceolate, glabrous or very scantily villous; otherwise as the type form. In aspect our plant is quite different from Rothrock's speci mens of the type form,* they being but 5 to 16 cm. high, with shorter leaves, and shorter, broader, more congested, villous- hirsute leaflets. The characters of the flowers are identical. The following references to Potentilla pwrpurawcns may be helpful : Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. XI 148 (1876) under Horkdia; Greene, Pittonia I 105 (1887). Type specimen in the United States National Herbarium, No. 1579, Death Valley Expedition; collected August 10, 1891, at Trout Meadow, Sierra Nevada, Tula-re County, California, by Frederick V. Coville. Our plant was abundant throughout the valley of the nort'n fork of Kern River, in forests of Pinus Jeffrey i, along the rather dry margins of meadows. Rothrock's came from a higher alti tude, 9,000 feet, u on the head-waters of Kern River," and is undoubtedly a derivative form modified by changed conditions. Sarcobatus baileyi sp. nov. Shrub .5 to 1 m. high ; bark dark gray after the first year ; branches divaricate, closely interlocking, the ultimate banchlets always spinescent ; leaves 8 to 14 mm. long or shorter, pubes cent, especially near the apex, with short, flattened, branched, reflexed hairs, the later leaves often glabrate in age ; male spike not seen ; fertile spikes infra-axillar}^ on old wood, consisting of 2 female flowers at the base (one often wanting), each in the axil of a leaf, and a terminal spiciform portion of male flowers, the whole axis 1 to 1.5 cm. long; fruit very large; body 8 to 9 mm. long, about 5 mm. broad at its widest point ; wing ob long-orbicular, erose, 10 to 15 mm. by 8 to 10 mm. in diameter ; seed not developed. The plant differs from S. vermicuhilus in its smaller size, always spinescent branchlets, intricate and compact growth, smaller and *Bot. Wheeler Surv., 1876, pi. III. 78 Coville New Plants -from Southern California, usually pubescent leaves, larger fruit, and different inflorescence. S. vermiculatus usually grows, in Nevada, 1.2 to 1.8 in. high, with branches less intricate and often not spine-tipped, and leaves when well developed 12 to 20 or even 30 mm. long and almost invariably glabrous. Its fertile flowers are described by Ben- tham and Hooker* as axillary and solitary, but the axis on which they are borne is really continued into a rudimentary male spike- let similar to that of S. baileyi, but each floral axis, instead of bearing 1 or 2 female flowers as in that species, commonly has from 4 to 8. In S. vermiculatus the body of the fruit is 4 to 5 mm. long, 2.5 to 3.5 mm. broad, and the wing 7 to 13 mm. by 5 to 8 mm. in diameter. Type specimen in the United States National Herbarium, No. 1994, Death Valley Expedition; collected June 2, 1891, in a valley near Thorpe's quartz-mill, Nye County, Nevada, by Ver- non Bailey. The plant was first seen by Mr. Bailey at Cloverdale, Esme- ralda County. Nevada, in 1890, and recognized by him as differ ent from S. vermiculatus. In company with Dr. Merriam he afterward found it in a valley in Nye County, Nevada, southeast by east from Gold Mountain, near Thorpe's quartz-mill, and later in Fish Lake Valle} 7 westward from the other localities, on the California state line. There is in the National Herbarium a specimen of the same plant collected by J. G. Lemmon in 1875, probably in western Nevada. The species is therefore confined, so far as known, to the counties of Esmeralda and Nye, in Ne vada, and Mono and Inyo, in California. I take pleasure in as sociating Mr. Bailey's name with this shrub, both as a mark of his earnest and invaluable labors in the field of natural history and as a reminder of a warm friendship established among the vicissitudes of a desert exploration. Saxifraga iiitegrifolia sierrae var. nov. Blades of larger leaves 8 to 12 cm. long, oblong-lanceolate to elliptical-lanceolate, acute, conspicuously serrate-denticulate, from glabrous to sparingly clammy-hairy above and beneath, thinner and more distinctly veined than in the type ; petiole and margin of the leaf toward the base ciliate with clammy hairs ; otherwise as the type form. * Gen. PL III, 1880, 76. Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. 79 Type specimen in the United States National Herbarium, No. 1 7(V>, Death Valley Expedition ; collected August 25, 1891, about eight miles northwest of Whitney Meadows, on the headwaters of Kern River, Sierra Nevada, Tulare County, California, by Frederick V. Coville. The species was described* from specimens collected by Scouler " near the mouth of the Columbia, northwest coast of America," and is excellently figured. t Specimens collected in later years in the same region agree with Hooker's description and figure in being viscid-pubescent throughout, and in having the leaves oblong, entire, obtuse, and scarcely exceeding 3.5 cm. in length. None of the specimens from the Sierra Nevada re semble the type form, but a good series of intergradcs exist be tween the two regions and in the Rocky Mountains where the variety occurs also.J The Sierran plant appears never to have been described except in the Botany of California, where the description of the type form is varied to include it. In Dr. Gray's conspectus of the species of Saxifraga it is not distinguished from Hooker's plant. Stylocline arizonica sp. nov. Plant of the subgenus Eustylodine, 5 cm. or less high ; habit that of S. micropoides ; leaves obtuse or abruptly acute ; heads 4.5 to 6 mm. high ; bracts of the receptacle Broadly winged around the conduplicate portion ; achenium lunate. The species differs from S. micropoides in its prevailingly obtuse leaves, its winged bracts, and its lunate achenia ; that species having narrowly acute leaves, bracts not produced into wings at the margin, and straight achenia. From S. gnaphaloides it differs in its smaller size, larger heads, and linear-oblong leaves. S. gnaphaloides attains a height of 8 to 10 cm. and is very diffusely branched, while its heads are seldom more than 3 mm. high and its leaves arc oblanceolate with a tapering base. Type specimen in the United States National Herbarium ; col lected May 1, 1867, on the Verde Mesa, Arizona, by Dr. Charles Smart. * Hook. Fl. Bor. Amcr., I, 1833, 249. t Loc. cit., t, 86. J Wheeler Survey, No. 706. \ Proc. Amer. Acad. Sci., XX, 1884, 8-12. 80 Coville New Plants from Southern California. The species undoubtedly is confined to the Lower Sonoran zone of the desert region. S. gnaphafoides belongs to the intra- montane region of California.* * The word " intramontane " is applied here to that portion of Califor nia west of a line of mountains made up of the Sierra Nevada, San Ber nardino, and San Jacinto ranges, together with their connecting ridges. That area is thus distinguished from the ultramontane or desert and Great Basin portions of the state. The two regions are marked by distinct char acteristic floras. North of the Sierra Nevada and south of the San Jacinto Mountains the precise location of the dividing line has not been clearly determined. VOL. VII, PP. 81-104 MAY, 1892 PROCEEDINGS OF THK BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. SOME INTERRELATIONS OF PLANTS AND INSECTS* r.Y C. V. RILE-Y, PH. D. It is my purpose to-night to present some phases of the curi ous interrelations between plants and insects. In doing this I shall not have time to deal with the remarkable series of results that have followed the more careful and accurate investigation of the so-called insectivorous or carnivorous plants, and which have shown that these plants are not only possessed of the power of movement depending upon nerve stimuli, that may be likened in almost every respect to the automatic movements of animals, but that they actually possess digestive powers and properties which, chemically and functionally, are the same as those by which animals digest their food. It is my desire rather to call your attention to certain phases of plant fertilization by insects. * This communication was presented for the most part extemporane ously, with the aid of stereopticon views. In preparing it, by request, for the printer, I have assumed that the facts already published in reference to Yucca pollination are familiar to the members of the Society, and have presented in the briefest manner such only as throw light on the philo sophical portion of the article. The descriptive portion is condensed from a more extended paper recently prepared for the Annual Report of the Missouri Botanical Garden, but not yet published, and the illustra- trations are for the most part borrowed in advance from that paper. Figures 8, 10, 11, 12, and 13, however, are from my previous publications ; Figure 6 was prepared specially from the stereopticon slide ; and Figures 2, 3, and 4 are from the Department of Agriculture and used by permis sion of Assistant Secretary \Yillits. 11 KIOL. So.-., WASH., Vol.. VII, 1 *!_'. (Si) 82 Miley Some Interrelations of Plants and Insects. I need not tell the members of this Society that the old idea that flowers were endowed with beauty and fragrance for our particular pleasure has been effectually set aside, and that these attributes have come to be looked upon in their true light, as essential to the plant's existence and perpetuation ; that, in other words, color, form, odor, secretions, and the general structure of flowers, all have reference to insects. Nor need I dilate on the need of cross-fertilization in plants generally, or the modification which insect pollinizers have undergone as a consequence of this need. Some of the more interesting facts are particularly well exemplified in our orchids, to the philosophic study of which Darwin's important work " On the Fertilization of Orchids " gave a distinct impulse. But here we have adaptation of the plant only, and, with scarcely an exception, most flowers, including those of our orchids, may be fertilized by different insects. There are, in fact, few which are dependent on a single species for pollination, and, so far as I know, our Yuccas furnish the only instance of this kind. It is to the fertilization of these plants that I would first draw your attention. The Yuccas are a characteristic American group of liliaceous plants, finding their home more particularly in the southern United States and Mexico. There are many species which have been divided even into sub-genera by Dr. Engelmann, as Sar- coyucca, Clistoyucca, Chenoyucca, and Hesperoyucca ; but for our present purpose they may all be included under the one genus Yucca, as they all possess certain characteristics in com mon, viz, a thick, sub-mucilaginous root, which is in reality a subterranean stem ; lance-shaped, evergreen leaves, narrow or broad, rigid or flaccid, and with the edges either filamentose, smooth, or more or less distinctly serrate. The leaves produce a coarse fiber, valuable for certain kinds of fabrics, while the trunks of the tree Yuccas have been used to make the toughest kind of paper. The fruit of some species, as of aloifolia and baccata, is fleshy and edible. It is, however, the flowers to which I would draw more especial attention. They are pro duced in large panicles, and are characterized as a rule by the anthers not reaching anywhere near the stigma ; so that fertiliza tion unaided can take place only by the merest accident. The Yuccas show great variation in detail, both in leaf, general habitus, flower-stalk, flower, and fruit, from the common sessile Yucca jilaineiit<>* of our gardens to the arboreal forms, like Structural Characteristics of Pronutxt. 83 brevtfolia of the Mohave Desert and fitifera of Mexico. My re marks will be based chiefly on Yucca filamentosa, which is indig enous to the Southeastern States and is cultivated beyond its natural range, under a number of horticultural variety names, in our gardens. An examination of the flower will show at once the peculiar ities which I have alluded to as characteristic of the genus. The stamens or filaments are bent away from the stigma and do not reach more than two-thirds the length of the pistil, the stigmatic opening being at the tip of the prolonged style and nowhere within reach of the stamens, while the pollen either remains attached to the open and withered anthers or falls in different sized* lumps on the underside of the perianth. It cannot be introduced into the stigmatic tube without artificial aid, and the plant depends absolutely on the little white moth belonging to the Tineina and known as Pronuba yuccasdla Riley. STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PRONUBA. Upon a superficial view, this little moth shows nothing very peculiar. The general coloration is white, the primaries being purely white on the upper surface ; so that when at rest in the half open flowers of the Yucca it is not easily detected. The under surfaces, however, are dusky and offset in flight the white- eness of the rest of the body, so as to render the species some what difficult of detection while flitting from plant to plant. The male shows no very marked peculiarities to distinguish him from the other members of the family, the most noticeable being, perhaps, the prominence of the exposed parts of the genitalia. The female, however, shows some remarkable structural pecu liarities, which admirably adapt her for the functions she has to perform, for she must fertilize the plant, since her larvaB feed upon its seeds. Now. if I should ask any well-informed entomologist what are the characteristics of the Lepidopterous mouth, in the imago state, he would unhesitatingly answer : The lack of all prehen sile organs and a coiled tongue capable of sucking liquids. If again I should ask what distinguishes the Lepidoptera from, say, the Hymenoptera, in the methods of ovi position, he would answer that the Lepidoptera lay eggs possessing, it is true, an infinite diversity of form, but usually attached externally to some part of the food-plant of the species, while the Hymenop- 84 Riley tio me' Interrelations of Plants and Insects. tera as a rule secrete theirs, and are furnished with either a puncturing, boring, or sawing instrument for that purpose. The generalization would be entirely justified, though there are many curious exceptions to it, especially in the very group Tineina, to which our Yucca moth belongs. It is, however, necessary to FIG. 1. A, tip of anal joint and vaginal projection of Q Pronuba yucca>eUa from side, showing ovipositor with parts extended; 6, basal joint; c, its file-like surface; d, ter minal joint, with its dorsal serrate wing (/), its dentate tip (e), its ventral membranous outlet (.7), and the extended oviduct (/?) ; B, the same parts farther enlarged ; C, ventral view of tip of abdomen, showing the two pair of rods i, i and k, k, with their muscular attachments, the parts of the ovipositor similarly lettered as in A; M, m. eggs taken from Yucca pistil ; H, egg, showing development of embryon ; o, mature egg from ovary of Q ; r, s, genital claspers of cJ\ lateral and dorsal view-all enlarged. state these general truths in order to convey a just idea of the exceptional nature of the two organs to which I wish more par ticularly to draw your attention. The first is a pair of maxillary tentacles which are prehensile and spinous on their under surface. They are peculiar to the genus Pronuba and exist in no other genus Structural Characteristics of Pronuba. 85 of the many thousands of butterflies and moths.* The other organ is the ovipositor, which, instead of being a simple opening, as typically found in Lepidoptera, is here modified into a complex combination of lance and saw. Ordinarily it is withdrawn and hidden, but when in action is projected far beyond the tip of the abdomen and is then seen to consist of two principal parts the basal part being imbricato-granulate L e., having a delicate file-like structure, the terminal part being smooth, but having near the end a dorsal serrate chitinous wing and a still more strongly toothed corneous tip. The internal structure is seen to consist of two stout rods, extending along the thin walls to the very tip, and of a ventral canal or passage-way for the delicate oviduct, which is silk-like and elastic and may be extruded for a great length from an outlet near the end of the ovipositor. This oviduct is smooth basally, but armed along its terminal third with retrorse hairs, increasing somewhat in number and strength toward the tip, around which they are almost spinous. At first sight these would seem to be out of place and to impede rather than aid the insertion of such a delicate filament ; but, as we shall presently see, the act of oviposition is a most intri cate and difficult one and these hairs are doubtless sensitive and tactile and serve the double purpose of enabling the moth to feel her way in the ovarian cell and of temporarily anchoring in the soft wall thereof while the egg is being passed to its destination. It will be seen that this ovipositor is admirably adapted for cleav ing through the young fruit and then running the egg into the ovarian cavity, as will be presently described. The manner in which this ovipositor is worked by the four rods attached to strong muscles is indicated at Fig. 1, C, the two inner rods form ing, as already indicated, the rigid portion of the ovipositor proper and the imbricate basal portion of the covering facilitat ing the invagination of the basal part when the ovipositor is withdrawn. The two outer rods are attached to strong muscu lar tissue in the walls of the vagina, and when the ovipositor is extended to its utmost limit this vaginal portion is partially ex truded so as to appear like a basal subjoint. More detailed characterization of these parts is unnecessary in this connection. * There are over 12,000 described .species of Lepidoptera from Europe and America, and those from other parts of the world will double this number. Nearly as many more remain, perhaps, to be described. 86 Riley Some Interrelations of Plants and Insects. THE ACTS OF POLLINATION AND OVIPOSITION. Having thus drawn attention to the most characteristic struct ures of Pronuba, we shall better understand the following account of the acts of pollination and oviposition which I quote from an article recently prepared for the Annual Report of the Missouri Botanic Garden : " Though all the acts of the female are nocturnal, it is not at all difficult to follow them with a lantern, for, albeit ordinarily shy, she may be closely approached when about to oviposit. Her activity begins soon after dark, but consists, at first, in as siduously collecting a load of pollen. She may be seen running up to the top of one of the stamens and bending her head down over the anther, stretching the maxillary tentacles, so wonderfully modified for the purpose, to their fullest extent, the tongue uncoiled and reaching to the opposite side of the stamen. In this manner she is able to obtain a firm hold of the stamen, while the head is kept close to the anther and moved peculiarly back and forth, some thing as in the motion of the head of a caterpillar when feeding. The maxillary palpi are used in this act very much as the ordinary mandibles are used in other in sects, removing or scraping the pollen from pollen" the anthers toward the tentacles. After thus gathering the pollen she raises her head and commences to shape it into a little mass or pellet by using her front legs very much as a cat does when cleansing her mouth, sometimes using only one leg, at another time both, smoothing and pressing the gathered pollen, the tentacles mean while stretching and curving. After collecting all the pollen from one anther she proceeds to another and repeats the opera tion, then to a third and fourth, after which, with her relatively large load often thrice as large as the head held firmly against the neck and front trochanters, she usually runs about or flies to another plant ; for I have often noticed that oviposition, as a FIG. 2. Female yuccasella gathering Xo, Pollination and Oviposition. 87 rule, is accomplished in some other flower than that from which the pollen was gathered, and that cross-fertilization is thus se cured. " Once fully equipped with this important commodity, she may be seen either crawling over or resting within the flower, generally with the head toward the base. From time to time she makes a sudden dart and deftly runs around the stamens, and anon takes a position with the body between and the legs straddling two of them, her head being usually turned toward the stigma. As the terminal portion of the stamens is always more or less recurved, she generally has to retreat between two of them until the tip of her abdomen can reach the pistil. As . FIG. 3. Flower of Yucca filamentosa with near petals removed, showing Pronuba in act of ovipositing. soon as a favorable point is reached, generally just below .the middle, she rests motionless for a short time, when the abdomen is slightly raised and the lance-like ovipositor is thrust into the soft tissue, held there the best part of a minute, while the egg is conducted to its destination, and then withdrawn by a series of up-and-down motions. " In non-technical language, the pistil or the young fruit, be low the stigmatic tube, shows externally at this time six quite distinct longitudinal divisions, each having a median ridge, there being six corresponding depressions or concavities in which the six stamens fit, especially at the base. Technically, the pistil is a tlim>r<.'ll'd ovary, the styles bifid at tip and united so as to 88 Riley Some Interrelations of Plants and Insects. form the stigmatic tube. A transverse section anywhere about the middle will show that each of the six longitudinal sections contains a row of ovules within an ovarian cell. More strictly, the ovules are in pairs, as there are but three primary sections or carpels, divided by three primary divisions or dissepiments. Figure 4 shows a transverse section of one of these primary divisions or carpels which well indicates the position of the ovules (a), the funiculus (6), the placenta (c), and the ovarian cell (d). As the fruit enlarges, the three secondary dissepiments narrow and coalesce, while the other three widen, so that the pod be comes practically three-lobed and the seeds are more distinctly FIG. 4. Transverse section of one of the carpels of Yucca pistil : a, ovule ; b, funicu- lu$; c, placenta; d, ovarian cell; e, fihro-vascular bundles; /, fibro-vascular tissue: o-o's of gall-flies (Gynipidae), though the pedicel does not shorten, as observed in these last. Segmentation is noticeable on the second day, and the Yucca ovule at once begins to swell and enlarge, the irritation (doubtless mechanical) influencing the plant tissue much as in the case of the punctures of the irall-flies 12 BIOL. Soc., WASH., VOL. VII, IS'i-J. 90 Riley Some Interrelations of Plants and Insects. just mentioned. Sometimes two or more adjacent ovules are thus affected." It may be well right here to look a little more closely into the minuter characteristics of the Yucca flower at this stage of its development that we may understand more fully the action and influence of the moth. In my first article, published some twenty years ago, announcing the discovery of Pronuba and its action on Yucca pollination, I was strongly inclined to the idea that the act of pollination had some compensating inducement to the moth, aside from the impelling instinct of perpetuation of the species. At that time it was supposed that the stigmatic liquor was nectarian, and the conclusion was justifiable that the moth, attracted to it for feeding purposes, would incidentally induce pollination. On this view of the matter it did not require a great stretch of the imagination to conceive that the pollen might also incidentally accumulate in the spines, and that the vigorous action of the head that had been noticed might even be considered as an effort to get rid of the encumbrance while feeding. In those days I was more imbued with the common notion that lower creatures are impelled for the most part un consciously to their acts. Twenty years of study and experience have only served to prove the acts of Pronuba the more unselfish and without food inducement. A longitudinal section of the upper portion of the pistil will show the style with the stig matic tube, which at this time communicates with the ovarian cells. Now, Trelease has shown that the stigmatic liquor is not nectarian, but that the slight amount of nectar associated with the flower is secreted in pockets formed by the partitions that separate the three cells of the pistil, and which open externally near the style by a contracted pore from which the nectar is poured through a capillary tube to the base of the pistil. The accompanying illustration (Fig. 6) renders this more intelligible, a, being a longitudinal section through the center of a pistil, showing the septal gland (#), the duct (cZ), and the outlet at base ; ft, a cross-section of the pistil about the middle, also show ing the duct (VI) and gland (#) ; c. a more enlarged cross-section of the nectar apparatus ; e showing more fully the structure of the septal gland, while k is a longitudinal section of the top of the pistil, through the lobes, showing how the stigmatic tube (*) connects with the ovarian cell (o c), o being the ovary,./' the fu- niculus, p the placenta, and/r fibro-vascular tissue. r Apparatus of Yucca. 91 These interesting facts, which I have fully verified, show that nectar-feeding insects seek it not about the stigma, but at the base of the stamens or of the petals, whether within or without. In short, the nectar in these Yucca flowers has no value in pol lination, and Pronuba, in collecting the pollen and transferring it to the stigma, finds no food compensation, a conclusion which is confirmed by a study of the minute structure and internal Fia. G Nectar apparatus of Yucca : a, longitudinal section of pistil, with duct (d) and gland (g); 6, cross-section about middle, showing same parts ; c, still more enlarged cross-section of nectar apparatus; e, structure of septal gland after Trelease; h, longi tudinal section of top of pistil, showing stigmatic tube () ovarian cell (cc), ovule (o), funiculus (/), placenta (p), and fibro-vascular tissue (/(-) anatomy of the moth, which indicate that the tongue proper, though strongly developed, has to a. great extent, if not entirely, lost its function as a sucking organ, and that the alimentary canal is practically functionless, being aborted before reaching the anus. This defunctionization, jf I may use the term, of im- 92 Riley Some Interrelations of Plants and Insects. portant structures has not proceeded so far in Pronuba yuccmella as in P. metadata, which pollinizes Yucca whipplei. Those not familiar with the structure of Lepidoptera will hardly appreciate the modifications to which I shall allude, however, without the preliminary statement that the tongue in Lepidoptera consists of two distinct parts (maxilke) which are more or less concave on their inner side and united at the borders of the concave por tion by certain locking arrangements to form between them the sucking tube. Now, while in most cases the two parts may be relaxed and separated by force, in nature they are never so sepa rated, while the tip of the tongue is more or less acuminate and the two parts here very firmly united. FIG. 7. PKONUBA MACULATA: , tip of female abdomen; bj o, basal joint of ovipositor: tj o, terminal joint of ovipositor; ov, oviduct; m p, max. palpus; m t, maxillary tenta cle; t, tongue; gs, claspers of male from side; gp, claspers of male from behind en- largernant indicated ; pr, front wings, showing arrangement of spots in two of the more common forms, hair-lines showing natural size. In Pronuba yuccasella I had often noticed that the two parts became separated and in fact were almost always separated toward the tip, thus suggesting a loss of function as a sucking organ, but otherwise the tongue is strongly developed, and, with the exception of the weakness of the locking arrangement, not particularly abnormal. In Pronuba maculata, however (Fig. 7), the two parts of the tongue are but very feebly united, and often more or less disconnected, and are actually thickly covered with minute hairs and more sparsely with longer spinous hairs, inter mixed ; they are also swollen and enlarged toward the base. The import of this fact can best l>e conveyed to you by the statement Development and Traiisformations of Pronuba, 93 that in all other Lepidoptera that I know of the tongue is a smooth organ and in no way armed, except near the tip. In short, the tongue in Promtba maculata has become an accessory tentacle, serving and helping in pollination, but probably in capable of use for feeding purposes. These structural peculiari ties justify the conclusion, which observation confirms, that Pro- nuba does not feed in the imago state. In other words, she has no incentive to go to the stigma with her load of pollen other than that of pollinizing, and the slight amount of nectar which the plant secretes is well calculated to lead other insects which seek it away from the stigma and thus not to interfere with Pro- nuba's mission. DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSFORMATIONS OF PRONUBA. On this subject I need only remark that the action of oviposi- tion causes a disorganization of the plant tissue in the immediate neighborhood of the apical portion of the egg and the swelling of the adjacent ovules ; that the embryo develops in the capitate end of the egg, and while the larva is white at first, or of the exact color of the young ovule, it becomes slightly greenish or roseate when full grown, which is in about a month, or coincident with the ripening of the seed. It perforates the capsule and drops to the ground, having six thoracic legs, which doubtless aid it at this period of its life. It remains through the fall, winter, and early spring months in a tough cocoon, transforms to the chrysalis state about a week before the Yuccas bloom again, and finally issues as a moth to continue the annual cycle of its career. F i . s. PKONUBA The chrysalis (Fig. 8), has a capitate spine and a series of dorsal spines, some of which are spatulate and admirably fitted for helping it to work through the ground. " The effect of the puncture of the female moth on the fruit is at once noticeable by a darker green discoloration externally. In time this becomes a depression, causing a constriction of the pod, and the irregularities of the pod (Fig. 9, 6, c), which have been supposed to be characteristic of the genus Yucca, are really due to these punctures, which ordinarily occur just below the middle." The absolute need of Pronuba in the pollination of our deniscent Yuccas I have proved over and over again, in many 94 ;?/ Some Interrelations of Plants and Insects. ways. The plant never produces seed where Pronuba does not e xist ; it never produces seed when she is excluded artificially, and experiments which I have made with artificial or brush pollination all show that it is much more difficult to ensure complete fructification than would at first appear, and that the act of pollination is rarely performed with a brush or by using the flower's own filaments, as successfully as it is done by Pro nuba. It is Pronuba yuccasella which pollinizes all our Yuccas east of the Rocky Mountains, so far as known, and the species is remarkably uniform in character, its appearance in time being coetaneous with the flowering of Yucca filamentosa. On the western plains its appearance has become adapted to the flower- FKJ. !). Mature pods of Yucca angustifoiia: a, artificially pollinized and protected from Pronuba; 6, normal pod, showing constrictions resulting from Pronuba puncture and exit holes of larva; c, one of the lobes cut open, showing larva within. ing of Yucca angustifoiia, but in the east, where these two species of Yucca are frequently grown side by side, Y. angustifoiia flowers two or three weeks earlier than Y. filamentosa and generally too early to receive the visits of Pronuba, so that it produces seed only on very rare occasions. Yucca brevifolia is pollinized by r/'on/ihti synthetica Riley, the most remarkable species of the genus, having very stout maxillary tentacles, a very stout ovi positor, shorter than that of yuccasella, but characterized chiefly by having fuliginous and unsealed wings and a polished, naked and flattened body structures all well adapted for crawling be tween and about the compact and crowded flowers, with their Pollination of other Species of Yucca. 95 thick and leathery petals, but very abnormal in the Lepidoptera. In fact, this species strongly recalls in its general aspect some of the saw-flies belonging to the genus Dolorus, the resemblance being heightened by the rather conspicuous, cenchri-like spots, and by the conspicuous division between thorax and abdomen. It also strikingly recalls some of the Neuroptera, as Siall-s infumata. Now these resemblances to insects of different Orders and to families which are generally conceded to be of low type within their Order, cannot possibly be mimetic, as there can be no con ceivable cause, purpose, or advantage in the mimicry. It is also impossible to account for these resemblances upon any present genetic connection. Yet we are hardly justified in disposing of them as merely accidental and without meaning. They suggest a possible synthesism in the past, when types were less special ized and present Orders had not become so well differentiated. Yucca whipplei, which occurs in southern California, has flowers distinguished by their relatively long and stout stamens, the pollen of which is copious and glutinous, not to say mucilag inous, and a short, contracted style, with the stigma, however, expanded and covered with sticky threads. It is pollinized by Pronuba maculata Riley, which, as already shown, has a tongue modified into an accessory pollen-gathering organ. If any species of Yucca would seem not to need a special insect for pol lination, Yucca whipplei is that species ; for the long stamens, the sticky and abundant pollen, and the peltate, hairy stigma would all seem to facilitate ordinary pollination. Nevertheless, the very restricted style would seem to be purposely developed to counteract these other facilities, and we find a Pronuba asso ciated with it, with a remarkably modified tongue, and with the maxillary tentacles very long and attenuated at the tip struct ures which doubtless enable the moth to perform the act of pol lination. I have never been able to observe the act, nor has any one yet recorded either the acts of pollination or oviposition. There will be nothing peculiar about the latter, but I shall be very glad to get actual experience in reference to the former, as I am satisfied that the observed facts will show, still more fully than in the case of Pronuba yuccasella, that the special modifica tions of both flower and insect have gone on until the mutual interdependence has become absolute. There is much yet to learn of the pollination of other species of Yucca, and I- am particularly anxious to obtain the insects which will doubtless be found associated with them. The regal 90 Riley Some Interrelations of Plants and Insects. tree Yucca, Yucca filifera, of northeastern Mexico, reaching a height of fifty feet, with its pendulous panicles five or six feet long, has a very elongate pistil and comparatively short stamens. The few- pods which I have been able to examine indicate the presence of a Pronuba and doubtless of a distinct species which will prove very interesting. Yucca baccata, Y. trmilirnirn, and all the species which are sufficiently distinctive in characters and in range, may be expected to have special Pronubas associated with them. THE BOGUS YUCCA MOTH. An interesting fact connected with Pronuba and Yucca polli nation is that there is always associated with Pronuba yuccasdla another moth, which bears such a remarkable superficial resem blance to it, though possessing no power of pollination, that it has caused much confusion in the past on the part of careless observers and led to a good deal of misstate*- ment and error. This is what I have called the Bogus Yucca Moth. Pro- <1o.ws dedpiem (Fig. 10). In size it is somewhat smaller, on the average, than Pronuba, and, while found as sociated with it, appears rather earlier. The female has no maxillary tentacle, but otherwise the genus has all the characteristics which would place it in the same family as Pronuba. The ovipositor is a stronger instrument (Fig. 11), but structurally ho mologous. The eggs are thrust into the stem while yet tender ; they are elon gate in form, but short and rounded at both ends, resembling the un developed ova in the ova ries of Pronuba. The larva is absolutely apo- *2gffi%* - doUS (Fig. 12, 0)j forms its parent; h, basal joint of ovipositor; c, its sculpture cocoons within the stem, '' t( ' nilill;l1 .' oint " f Siin '"' its (i '' Inor<1 enlar * ed : > Fir,. 10. PRODOXUS DECIPIENS : a, imago, wings closed ; b, female im ago, wings expanded natural size ; c, enlarged maxillary palpus with its basal tubercle. and transforms the ensu- < srenitalia of O fr ensiiinti' year to a chrysalis, which has a much stronger capitate Tlie Bogus Yucca Moths. 97 spine, but the barest trace of dorsal spines on the abdominal joints. It issues partly from the stem in giving out the moth. As I have elsewhere remarked : " Who, studying these two species in all their characters and bearing, can fail to conclude that, notwithstanding the essential differences that distinguish them not only specifically, but ge- nerieally, they are derived from one and the same ancestral form ? Pronuba, depending for its existence upon the pollination of the flower, is profoundly modified in the female sex in adaptation to the peculiar function of pollination. Prodoxus, dwelling in the flesh of the fruit or in the flower-stem and only indirectly Frr;. VI. Pnonoxrs DKCFIMKXS : a, larva ; b, head from above ; c, d, left jaw and antenna ; e, pupa: /, infested stem nut open to show the burrows, castings, coeoons, and pupa shell (/j)-all enlarged but f, the hair-lino between n and c showing natural length. depending upon the fructification of the plant, is not so modified, but has the ordinary characters of the family in both sexes. In the former the larva quits the capsules and burrows in the ground ; it has legs to aid in its work, while the chrysalis is likewise beautifully modified to adapt it to prying through the ground and mounting to the surface. The latter, on the con trary never quitting the stem has^ no legs in the larva state? and in the chrysalis state is more particularly adapted, by the Hoc., WASH., VMT.. VII, LSft Riley Some Interrelations of Plants and Insects. prominence of the capital projection, to piercing the slight cov ering of the stem left ungnawed by the larva. The former is very regular in its appearance as a moth at the time of the flow ering of the Yuccas in their native range. The latter appears earlier, as the food of its larva is earlier ready, and the female could not oviposit in the riper stem." Some ten species of this genus Prodoxus have been described, all of them having the very same structural characteristics and in the adolescent states being scarcely distinguishable. Pro- doxus decipiens is associated with Pronuba yiiccasella east of the Rocky Mountains, and Pro- do.i'ii* sordidiis is similarly as sociated with Pronuba synthe- tica, breeding in the flower sterns of Yucca brevifolia. All the other species are associated with Pronuba, maculata, breed ing either in the base of the capsules or in the flower stem or the main stem of Yucca whipplei. I have found Pro doxus larvae in the stems of all other Yuccas which I have been able to examine, and doubtless a number of other species are yet to be discovered and characterized. The species so far known are interesting in that they illustrate in a remarkable manner what I have called fortuitous varia tion, or superficial color- ational characters ; also a great tendency to graduate into each other b y variations among themselves, not only in the structure of the ovi positor and the male genitalia but in the wing markings. The time to which these remarks are limited will prevent my going into descriptive details, and FIG. 13. PRODOXVS MARGIXATUS : a, anal ab dominal joint of female X 26; b j o, basal joint of ovipositor; tj o, terminal joint do.; ov, oviduct ; c, claspers of male from above X 18; pr, front wing hair-line showing natural size. FIG. 14. PRODOXVS Y-IXVKIH hair-line, underneath shouii talia of male, dorsal view X 18; d, anal joint of t'em sorted, lateral view X 20: further enlarged. i, left front vring, natural sixe : li, geni- 14 ; c, do., lateral view B with ovipositor ex- tip of ovipositor still Capriji cation of the Fig. 99 FIG. 15. Puonoxrs nti,i>ii.vi>KNSis : a, left I content myself with illustrating in this connection a few of the more distinctly marked species, Figs. 13, 14, 15, and 16. The genus interests us most, however, in indicating how Pro nuba with all her abnormal, peculiarities, has been evolved ; for though we have striking differences in habit and mode of development, of larva, pupa, and imago, between Pronuba and Prodoxus, yet the affinities are equally striking, and the two genera exemplify in an ex- / front wing, hair-line underneath showing CeptlOlial degree the power Of natural size ; 6, male genitalia, dorsal view natural selection to intensify " x 15 ; c ' do -< lateral view - x is. habits and structures in opposing directions according to the requirements of the species. Prodoxus is practically dependent upon Pronuba, for if the latter did not fructify the plant, the former would have in time no flower stems to breed in, and while Prodoxus has gone on, ya ^ ^ma~- ^ generation after generation V with comparatively little FI, ; . i. Viola canina L., var. Muhlenbergii Gray. Fourteenth street road and Rock Creek. June, 1889. G. W Oliver. *89c. Viola odorata L. Near Accotink, Fairfax County, Virginia. William Hunter. POLYGALACE.E. 96. Polygala incarnata L. Terra Cotta swamp and along the Queens Chapel road. Les ter F. Ward and the author. Additions to the Flora of Washington. 109 98. Poly gala fastigiata Nutt. Saul's nursery, Bladensburg turnpike. Lester F. Ward and the author. 99. Polygala Curtissii Gray, var. pycnostachya Gray. Abundant at Fort Myer. The author. 100. Polygala ambigua Nutt. Common near Fort Ethan Allen. II. W. Henshaw. Linden Farm, Seventh and Eighth street roads, and Kalorama. E. S. Burgess. Brookland. The author. Fort Myer. H. W. Hen- si lil\V. x lOOa. Polygala cruciata L. Very abundant in a sphagnum swamp near Silver Hill. G. W. Oliver. *101. Polygala verticillata L. Abundant near Fort Myer, flowering in the third week of August. H. W. Henshaw. CAR YOPIIYLLA CE.E. 106. Silene nivea Otth. Alexander Island, flowering in the last week of June. H. W. Henshaw. Gulf Landing, Potomac shore. G. B. Sudworth. *107. Silene noctiflora L. Columbia road, August. W. H. Seaman. *110fi. Lychnis vespertina Sibth. Numerous flowering specimens found in a meadow near Bunker Hill ; first week of May, 1892. The author. * 117. Stellaria graminea L. Abundant in the hedge of Chinese arbor-vita) north of the conservatories. Department of Agriculture. George Vasey. ILLECEBRA CEsE. 124.. Scleranthus annuus L. West bank of Rock Creek, Georgetown. G. W. Oliver, 110 Holm Additions to the Flora of Washington. PORTULACACE.E. 126, Claytonia Virgiuica L. A double-flowered form observed at Beaver Dam Branch. Lester F. Ward. *126a. Talinum teretifolium Purah. Dry moorland beyond Silver Hill. G. W. Oliver. ELATINACE.E. * 1266. Elatine Americana Arn. Near Chain Bridge, on the Virginia shore of the Potomac, March, 1891. The author. HYPERICACEJE. 128. Ascyrum staiis Michx. Very common in several swamps near Silver Hill. G. W. Oliver. Accotink, Fairfax County, Virginia. William Hunter. Swamp back of Hyattsville. Lester F. Ward. MALVACEAE. * 137a. Althaea cauiiabina L. Vacant lots south of the Capitol ; escaped from cultivation. G. W. Oliver. * 138. Sida Napaea Cav. Potomac flats near the continuation of Eighteenth street ; in flower during the first week of October. E. S. Burgess. GERANIACE^E. *151. Floerkea proserpinacoides Willd. High Island. M. B. Waite. ILICINE^E. * 158. Ilex glabra Gray. Swamp beyond Silver Hill. G. W. Oliver. Additions to the Flo I'd of Washington. Ill SAPINDACEJE. 174. Acer saccharinuna Wang. A sapling of this, together with one of var. mgrum, neither in flower, was found on the second island in the Potomac above Feeder Dam Island. F. V. Coville. LEGUMINOS&. 186. Baptisia australis II. Br. Great Falls. H. W. Henshaw. *191a. Medicago maculata Willd. Fifteenth street, opposite the Panorama building. Miss A. M. Hayes. White House grounds. Countess Sponneck. * 194. Trifolium medium L. A single specimen found in an old sandy field between George town and Alexandria. G. B. Sudworth. 195a. Trifolium hybridum L. Monument grounds. Miss A. M. Hayes. Brookland, Soldiers Home, and near Fort Myer. The author. x 1956. Trifolium incaruatum L. Several specimens collected in the city parks. C. S. Prosser. ;: 220a. Lespedeza striata L. Railroad banks at the south end of Long Bridge ; also along the Conduit road near the distributing reservoir. G. W. Oliver. Corcoran Woods. Lester F. Ward. 230. Clitoria Mariana L. Abundant, with ripe fruits, Terra Cotta and Rock Creek. Lester F. Ward and the author. ROSACEsE. * 257. Solidago Canadensis L., var. prooera Torr. & Gray. Near Spout Run. E. S. Burgess. Additions to the Flora of Washington. 115 *428a. Aster Shortii Hook. A mile above Aqueduct Bridge, on the shore of the Potomac, near Spout Run ; in flower in the last week of October. E. S. Burgess. *4286. Aster azureus Lindl. Terra Cotta ; flowering in the second week of October. E. S. Burgess. 430. Aster concolor L. Terra Cotta swamp ; in flower during the second week of Octo ber. E. S. Burgess. Rather common near the Reform School. Lester F. Ward and the author. *431a. Aster patens Ait., var. phlogifolius Nees. Woodley Park ; in flower during the first week of October. E. S. Burgess. 432. Aster laevis L. Still persisting in Woodley Park, October, 1888. E. S. Bur gess. 435. Aster cordifolius L. Just beginning to bloom in the last week of August. H. W. Henshaw. *444. Aster puniceus L., var. lucidulus (Wend.) Gray. Terra Cotta. H. W. Henshaw. 446. Aster prenanthoides Muhl. River bank near the storage-house of the Independent Ice Company. E. S. Burgess. 447. Aster oblongifolius Nutt. Above Hydrophyllum Run. E. S. Burgess. 448. Aster Novae-Angliae L. Woodley Park. J. J. Shirley. Potomac flats. Lester F. Ward and the author. Eighteenth street extended. Mouth of Foundry Run. Outlet Lock. E. S. Burgess. 15 BIOL. Soc., WASH., VOL. VII, 1892. 116 Holm Additions to the Flora of Washington. 450. Aster umbellatus Mill. Terra Cotta swamp, near the railway track. Swamps below Freedman's Village. E. S. Burgess. 453. Erigeron bellidifolius Muhl. Woodley Park. Lester F. Ward. Fort Tottcn. The author. 457. Baccharis halimifolia L. Near Accotink Station, Virginia, on the Alexandria and Fair fax railway ; flowering in the second week of September. Wil liam Hunter. Opposite Marshall Hall. G. W. Oliver. *459. Antennaria plantaginifolia Hook., var. monocephala Gray. Pierce's Mill Bridge, April 28, 1889. G. W. Oliver. 462. Gnaphalium purpureum L. Potomac shore. Lester F. Ward. Common in Terra Cotta Swamp. Brookland. The author. 465. Silphium trifoliatum L. Still persisting near Woodley Bridge, October, 1888. E. S. Burgess. *465a. Silphium laciniatum L. At the southeastern end of Woodley Bridge ; first discovered by J. W. Chickering ; found more recently by E. S. Burgess. *472a. Heliopsis scabra t)un. Near Spout Run ; flowering in the first week of October. E. S. Burgess. 473. Eclipta alba Hassk. Piney Branch, above the bridge at Fourteenth street. E. S. Burgess. 494a. Bidens connata Muhl. Acct>tink, Fairfax County, Virginia. William Hunter. 497. Qalinsoga parviflora Cav. Corner of Rhode Island avenue and S street. Piney Branch, above the brid.e at Fourteenth street. E. S. Burgess. Massa chusetts avenue, between Fourteenth and Fifteenth streets. The author. Additions to the Flora of Washrttyton. 117 * 502d. Artemisia caudata Michx. Near Alexandria ; introduced. G. W. Oliver. 503. Arnica nudicaulis Ell. Reform School. E. S. Burgess. Terra Cotta. Rock Creek. Queen's Chapel road. Bowen road. H. W. Henshaw. * 513. Cnicus pumilus Torr. Woodley Park. G. B. Sudworth. *524. Hieracium Marianum Willd. Bank of the Potomac x opposite the south end of Analostan Island. E. S. Burgess. * 529a. Lactuca Scariola L. This plant has lately been observed in several places within the city by Lester F. Ward, F. V. Coville, and the author. LOBELIACE^E. 537. Lobelia cardinalis L. Holmead Swamp. Along the road between Cabin John Bridge and Great Falls. Near Corcoran Woods. Lester F. Ward and the author. 539. Lobelia puberula Michx. Terra Cotta. The author. CAMPANULACE^E. 543. Campanula Americana L. Cabin John Run. Miss Joyce Lee. ERICACEAE. 550. Epigaea repens L. Autumnal flowers found in the last week of October. *F. W. Clarke. 551. Gaultheria procumbens L. Near Marlborough road. One mile above Blagden's Mill. G. W. Oliver. 118 Holm Additions to the Flora of Washington. 558. Rhododendron viscosum Torr., var. glaucum Gray. Swamp northwest of Terra Cotta. E. S. Burgess. 559. Rhododendron vizcosum Torr., var. nitidum Gray. Swamp northwest of Terra Cotta. E. S. Burgess. PYROLACE^E. 564. Pyrola secunda L. Near Chain Bridge, on the Virginia shore. The author. PRIMULACE^E. 577. Lysimachia nummularia L. Along a stream near Terra Cotta. I. C. Williams and the author. '* 577a. Centunculus minimus L. Field opposite the white school-house at Woodlawn, along the Alexandria and Accotink turnpike ; last week of June. Wil liam Hunter. 579. Samolus Valerandi L., var. Americana Gray. Abundant above and below Chain Bridge. Along the Poto mac below Analostan Island. G. B. Sudworth. APOCYNACEM 585. Vinca minor L. Back of Uniontown, along a stream in a hedge of Smilax ; thoroughly established. Lester F. Ward. Hillside in South Brookland. The author. 585a. Apocynum androsaemifolium L. Between Corcoran Woods and the Baltimore and Ohio Rail road. Lester F. Ward and the author. ASCLEPIADA CEJE. 594. Asclepips obtusifolia Michx. Anacostia River below the bridge. Reform School. Terra Cotta. E. S. Burgess. Additions to the Flora of Washington. 119 595. Asclepias variegata L. Terra Cotta. Reform School. E. S. Burgess. Fort Myer. The author. 596. Asclepias quadrifolia Jacq. Chamselirium Run. E. S. Burgess. 597. Asclepias verticillata L. Cascade Run. E. S. Burgess. Rock Creek. Great Falls. Lester F. Ward and the author. 599. Enslenia albida Nutt. Abundantly flowering under Chain Bridge, in the middle of July. Lester F. Ward and the author. 600. Gonolobus obliquus R. Br. Bluffs of the Potomac, at two localities between M. E. Church and Chain Bridge. H. W. Henshaw and E. S. Burgess. LOGANIACEJE. *6Q1. Spigelia Marilandica L. In a moist thicket in the vicinity of Mount Vernon ; flower ing in June, 1890. G. B. Sudworth. GENTIANACEJE. * 602a. Sabbatia gracilis Salisb. Low meadow east of Falls Church. C. Kinsley. 604. Gentiana Andrewsii Griseb. Flats between Aqueduct and Chain bridges. Lester F. Ward and the author. Terra Cotta Swamp. Lester F. Ward. 607. Obolaria f Virginica L. Rock Creek. G. W. Oliver. Several places in North Brook- land. The author. POLEMONIA CEsE. 608. Phlox paniculata L. Great Falls. Lester F. Ward and the author. 120 Holm Additions to the Flora of Washington. 609. Phlox maculata L. Near Chain Bridge, on the Virginia shore. Terra Cotta Swamp. The author. 613. Polemonium reptans L. Munson Hill. H. W. Henshaw. HYDROPHYLLA Cl^E. 615. Ellisia Nyctelea L. Poplar Point. E. S. Burgess. On the Potomac shore, Vir ginia side, near Aqueduct Bridge. The author. *615. Phacelia Covillei Wats. Larkspur Island. Lester F. Ward, F. V. Coville, and M. B. Waite. 616. Phacelia Purshii Buckl. High Island. Lester F. Ward. On the Virginia shore of the Potomac, near Aqueduct Bridge. The author. 617. Phacelia parviflora Pursh. Great Falls ; observed in great abundance. The author. Analostan Island and High Island. G. B. Sudworth. CONVOLVULACEJ?. 630. Ipomeea coccinea L. Vacant lot near the Baptist Church, southeast corner of Raw- lin's Square. E. S. Burgess. 635. Convolvulus spithamaeus L. Reform School. E. S. Burgess. -636a. Convolvolus sepium L., var. American us. Near Aqueduct Bridge, on the Virginia shore. The author. 610a. Cuscuta compact Juss. Near Fort Myer. The author. Additions to tlie Flora of Washington. 121 SO LAN ACE M. *641. Solanum Dulcamara L. Hedgerow a short distance west of the railroad below Alex andria. G. W. Oliver. 643. Physalis pubescens L. Still persisting in Lobelia Run, Woodloy Park. E. S. Burgess. *643a. Physalis Philadelphia L. Woodley Park. G. B. Sudworth. SCROPHULARIACE.fi. 651. Linaria Canadensis Dumont. Abundant in dry fields near Terra Gotta. I. G. Williams and the author. 654. Scrophularia nodosa L. Virginia shore near Spout Run. E. S. Burgess. Cascade Run. Lester F. Ward. Flats below Chain Bridge. The author. 656. Peiitstemon pubescens Soland. Virginia shore of the Potomac above the Dixie Landing. Mount Hamilton. E. S. Burgess. Mouth of Cystopteris Run. H. W. Henshaw. 657. Pentstemon laevigatus Soland. Mouth of Cystopteris Run. H. W. Henshaw. High Island. Near Great Falls. E. S. Burgess. Corcoran Woods. Near Fort Myer. The author. * 666 Veronica Americana Schwein. Goldianum Run. Lester F. Ward. 669. Veronica serpyllifolia L. Woodlawn, Fairfax County, Virginia. William Hunter. * 669. Veronica agrestis L. Accotink, Fairfax County, Virginia. William Hunter. The plant was collected in full bloom in the first week of February. 122 Holm Additions to the Flora of Washington. *671. Veronica hedereefolia L. Smithsonian grounds ; in flower in the last week of April. H. M. Smith. 672. Buchnera Americana L. East of Cabin John Bridge. H. W. Henshaw. Terra Cotta, Lester F. Ward and the author. 675. Gerardia quercifolia Pursh. Fort Myer. H. W. Henshaw. 676. Gerardia purpurea L. A white-flowered variety, collected near Woodlawn, Fairfax County, Virginia. William Hunter. OROBANCHEJE. 681. Orobanche minor L. Mount Vernon Square, near Terra Cotta. E. S. Burgess. Piney Branch woods. The author. 682. Aphyllon uniflorum Gray. Chama3lirium Run. E. S. Burgess. Insane Asylum woods. Near Aqueduct Bridge, on the Virginia shore. The author. Bull Run River, Virginia. Rock Creek. H. W. Henshaw. LABIATJE. 713. Pycnanthemum muticum Pers. Queen's Chapel road and near Fort Myer. H. W. Henshaw. 725. Lophanthus nspetoides Bth. Fort Bennett. H. W. Henshaw. *734, Brunella laciniata L. South bank of the Potomac, in a pasture a few hundred yards west of the uppermost steamboat landing above Aqueduct Bridge ; flowering in the second week of July. F. V. Coville. 733a. Lamium purpureum L. Agricultural grounds. G. B. Sud worth. Additions to the Flora of Washington. 123 PLANTAGINEJE. 745. Plantago Patagonica Jacq., var. aristata Gray. Woodley Park. G. B. Sudworth. POLYGON ACEM. 773. Polygonum tenue Michx. Lanier Heights. E. S. Burgess. X 775. Polygonum Hartwrightii Gray. Potomac flats just below Outlet Lock ; not seen in flower. P. V. Coville. ARI8TOLOCHIACEM. 788. Aristolochia Serpentaria L. Seven Locks. E. S. Burgess. Observed in several places in woods, but always scattered. Lester F. Ward, G. W. Oliver, and the author. LORANTHACEM 794. Phoradendron flavescens Ntitt. Growing upon Acer rubrum, Quercus tinctoria, and Q. coccinea. Woodlawn, near Mount Vernon, Virginia. William Hunter. On Acer rubrum, five miles west of Falls Church, Virginia. Les ter F. Ward. EUPHORBIACEM. 803. Euphorbia commutata Eng. Cystopteris Run. E. S. Burgess. Virginia shore of the Poto mac above Aqueduct Bridge. The author. 801. Phyllanthus Carolinensis Walt. Rediscovered in Corcoran Woods. G. W. Oliver. URTIOACEJE. 816. Parietaria Pennsylvanica Muhl. In a thicket between Aqueduct Bridge and Chain Bridge, near the Canal road. Lester F. Ward and the author. 1C BIOI.. Son., WASH., Vor.'VII, 1892. 124 Holm-<- Additions to the Flora of Washington. JUGLANDACE^E. 818. Carya alba Nutt. One large tree, standing on the north side of the Braddock road near Back Lick Run, opposite the Ophioglossum grounds. Lester F. Ward. MYRICACEJE. 825. Myrica cerifera L. Sphagnum swamp beyond Silver Hill. G. W. Oliver. North Brookland. Robert Ridgway. CUPULIFERJE. 831a. Quercus alba X obtusiloba. Near Silver Spring. H. W. Henshaw. 8316. Quercus alba X Prinus. Rockville road opposite Oakview. H. W. Henshaw. *833a. Quercus lyrata Walter. About one hundred yards east of High Island, near the Poto mac River. G. B. Sudworth. 835. Quercus Michauxii Nutt. Above the Silver Hill road. Lester F. Ward. Owl Bridge, Northwest Branch of Paint Branch, Maryland. H. W. Hen shaw. 836a. Quercus Prinus x alba. Brightwood. H. W. Henshaw. 837. Quercus Muhlenbergii Engelm. Blagden's Mill. Bluffs above the canal road west of Chain Bridge. Broad Branch. First run east of Cabin John Bridge. H. W. Henshaw. 838. Quercus prinoides Willd. Bladensburg road. H. W. Henshaw. Additions to the Flora of Washington. 125 *840. Quercus coccinea X falcata. Brightwood, between Bunker Hill road and Brentwood road. H. W. Henshaw. *842. Quercus falcata x tinctoria. Le Droit Park. H. W. Henshaw. \ 848. Quercus Leana Nutt. Cabin" John Bridge. H. W. Henshaw. 849. Quercus hetsrophylla Michx. Fort Bennett. H. W. Henshaw. AEACEM. 874. Arisaema Dracontium Schott. Near Spout Run. E. S. Burgess. Great Falls, on the Mary land side. Lester F. Ward and the author. LEMNACEM *879a. Lemna gibba L. Old canal, foot of Eighteenth and Twentieth streets. Lester F. Ward. NAIADACE^. 884. Najas flexilis Eostk. Several fruiting specimens were collected in the Brasenia pond near Chain Bridge. G. W. Oliver. 887. Potamogeton hybridus Michx. Alexandria. G. W. Oliver. * 888,1. Potamogeton Robbinsii Oakes. Hunting Creek, Virginia. F. V. Coville. ORCfflDACEM 900. Orchis spectabilis L. Several places in the woods above Aqueduct Bridge, on the Virginia shore. The author. Near the first bridge over Rock Creek on Connecticut avenue extended. G. B. Sudworth. 126 Holm Additions to the Flora of Washington. 901. Habenaria tridentata Hook. Beyond Silver Hill. G. W. Oliver. 909. Spiranthes gracilis Bigel. Smithsonian Park. Piney Branch. Eastern Branch woods. The author. 914. Tipularia discolor Nutt. North Brookland. Robert Ridgway. Fort Myer. The au thor. 915. Microstylis ophioglossoides Nutt. Sandy Spring road; a single specimen. H. W. Henshaw. Near Blagden's Mill. P. Gauges. 917. Liparis Loeselii Rich. North end of Massachusetts Avenue bridge. G. W. Oliver. 919. Corallorhiza multiflora Nutt. Below Burnt Mills ; four specimens in flower in the second week of August. H. W. Henshaw. HsEMODORA CEsE. 925. Aletris farinosa L. Fort Whipple ; above Blagden's Mill. H. W. Henshaw. Sil ver Hill. G. W. Oliver and M. B. Waite. IRIDACEM 927. Iris verna L. Bladensburg. M. B. Waite. LILIACEM. 946. Smilacina stsllata Desf. About forty specimens in full bloom, besides several younger individuals, were observed on a shaded rock about three miles above Aqueduct Bridge, on the Virginia shore, in the second week of May. The author. 947. Maianthemum Canadense Desf. Swamp near the Reform School. G. W. Oliver. Additions to the Flora of Washington. 127 * 949. Lilium Philadelphicum L. Broad "Branch. H. W. Henshaw. Glen Echo. W..H. Ab bott. 956. Melanthium Virginicum L. Several specimens brought to Center Market were said to have been collected near Alexandria. 957. Veratrum viride Ait. Like the preceding, brought to the market from near Alex andria. *961. Ornithogalum nutaiis L. Rock Creek, Pierce's Mill Run ; last week of April. G. Brown Goode and H. W. Henshaw. Meadow east of Foundry Run. F. V. Coville. COMMELINACEM 983. Commelina Virginica L. Bank near Chain Bridge, on the Virginia shore. H. W. Hen shaw. XYRIDACE^E. 985. Xyris flexuosa Muhl. Meadow beyond Silver Hill. Swamp near the Reform School. G. W. Oliver. ERIOCA ULONACEJE. 986. Briocaulon decangulare L. Silver Hill. G. W. Oliver. CYPERACE&. 986/>. Cypeius flavescens L. Abundant along streams in the Piney Branch woods. Near Chain Bridge. The author. 994. Cypeius Michauxianus Scliult. Pond near Chain Bridge. The author. 128 Holm Additions to the Flora of Washington. 998. Cyperus retrofractus Torr. Mount Hamilton. Lester,. F. Ward and the author. Along the Canal road. The author. * 1003a. Eleocharis olivacea Torr. Holmead Swamp ; flowering in the last week of September. The author. * 10036. Eleocharis tubsrculosa R. Br. Holmead Swamp ; abundant. The author. 1010. Scirpus debilis Pursh. Abundant in swamps near Cabin John Bridge. The author. 1017. Eriophorum Virginicum L. Swamp beyond Silver Hill. G. W. Oliver. *1021a. Rhyncospora cephalantha Gray. Holmead Swamp. The author. * 10216. Rhyncospora macrostachya Torr. Accotink, Fairfax County, Virginia. William Hunten. *1021c. Rhyncospora corniculata Gray. Sandy Landing, Maryland. Lester F. Ward. 1022. Scleria triglomerata Vahl. Terra Cotta Swamp. The author. Reform School. G. W. Oliver. 1024. Scleria pauciflora Muhl. Terra Cotta' Swamp. Saul's nursery on the Bladensburg turnpike. Along the Anacostia river marsh. The author. *1024a. Scleria ret.cularis Michx. Holmead Swamp, September. F. V. Coville. 1031. Caiex muricata L. Smithsonian Park. The author. Additions to the Flora of Washington. 129 * 10316. Carex divulsa Good. North Brookland. The author. 1055. Carex glaucodea Port. Near the Insane Asylum. Lester F. Ward and the author. 1083. Carex vestita Willd. Terra Cotta Swamp. The author. 1093. Carex stenolepis Torr. Common on the flats between Aqueduct and Chain bridges. Swamp near the Insane Asylum. Above Aqueduct Bridge, on the Virginia shore. The author. GRAMINEJS. llOla. Sporobolus vaginaeflorus Torr. Common in gardens in the northern part of the city. The author. 1112. Muhlenbergia capillaris Kth. Rediscovered in the old locality near Great Falls ; flowering in the third week of September. Lester F. Ward and the author. *1114a. Calamagrostis Canadensis Beauv. On the edge of a swamp, Accotink, Fairfax County, Virginia. William Hunter. 1121. Gymnopogon racemosus Beauv. In thickets along the Queen's Chapel road. Lester F. Ward and the author. 1153. Bromus tectorum L. Open, dry hillside near Anacostia. The author. 1158. Uniola gracilis Michx. Terra Cotta Swamp. Lester F. Ward and the author. 130 Holm Additions to the Flora of Washington. * 11606. Hordeum pratense Huds. Accotink, Fairfax County, Virginia. William Hunter. *1166a. Daiithonia sericea Xutt. A few specimens collected in June, 1890, west of Tennnlly- town. G. B. Sudworth. 1185. Panicum microcarpon Muhl. Rock Creek. Lester F. Ward and the author. 1190. Panicum verrucosum Muhl. Holmead and Terra Cotta swamps. Lester F. Ward and the author. *1192a. Panicum miliaceum L. Monument grounds. The author. 1195. Setaria Italica Kth. Near Ivy City. G. W. Oliver. 1203. Andropogon macrourus Michx. Terra Cotta Swamp. Lester F. Ward and the author. CONIFERS. 1207. Pinus pungens Michx. Johnny Moore Creek, Virginia. Near Woodlawn, Virginia. William Hunter. Barnaby Branch, Soldiers' Home. Lester F. Ward. *1207a. Pinus Taeda L. Near Brightwood. B. E. Fernow. * 12076. Pinus glabra Walter. A single tree, about 35 feet high, in a ravine near Tennally- town ; apparently introduced. G. B. Sudworth. 1210. Pinua Strobus L. Near Long Bridge. William Hunter. Additions to the Flora of Washington. 131 1211. Tsuga Canadensis Carr. Accotink Creek, Virginia. William Hunter. FILICES. 1216. Pellaea atropurpurea Link. Causeway between Analostan Island and the Virginia shore. E. S. Burgess. Rock Creek, between Pierce's Mill and Broad Run. G. W. Oliver. 1219. Woodwardia angustifolia Sm. Piney Branch woods. Near the Reform School. Lester F. Ward and the author. 1223. Asplenium angustifolium Michx. Above Blagden's Mill, on the west bank of Rock Creek. G. W. Oliver. 1226. Camptosurus rhizophyllua Link. Mount Vernon. William Hunter. 1239. Dicksonia pilosiuscula Willd. Abundant along Rock Creek. Lester F. Ward and the author. 1245. Botrychium ternatum Swz., var. dissectum Millde. In the wood near Aqueduct Bridge, on the Virginia shore. The author. 1247. Ophioglossum vulgatum L. Very plentiful in woods near Bennings. P. Gauges. A single specimen collected near the Reform School. Lester F. Ward and the author. LTCOPODIACMM x 12486. Lycopodium alopecuroides L. Sphagnum swamp, Henson's Creek. G. W. Oliver. 1248c. Lycopodium annotinum L. In the same locality as the preceding. G. W. Oliver. 17-BiOL. Soc., WASH., VOL. VII, 1892. 132 Holm Additions to the Flora of Washington. 1249. Lycopodium dendroideum Michx. Near the Reform School. Lester F. Ward and the author. North Brookland. Robert Ridgway. 1253. Selaginella apus Spring. Common in Piney Branch woods, Holmead Swamp, Rock Creek, and in the ravines on the Virginia shore, between Aque duct and Chain bridges. The author. Kalorama. Ckamxlirium Run. E. S. Burgess. ISOETE^E. * 12536. Isoetes riparia Engelm. Hunting Creek, near Alexandria. F. V. Coville. VOL. VII, PP. 133-150 JULY, 1892 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. PLANTS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS, BERING SEA.* BY DR. C. HART MERRIAM. WITH CRITICAL NOTES BY J. N. ROSE. INTRODUCTORY NOTE., The present incomplete list of the plants of the Pribilof or Seal Islands is based on specimens collected by me from July 28 to August 10, 1891, and presented to the National Herbarium in the United States Department of Agriculture. The collection consists of about 1,000 specimens in good condition, comprising upwards of 130 species. Several collections of plants have been made on the islands before, but owing to the constant fogs were ruined by dampness and mould before reaching Washington. My plants were dried by artificial heat and kept in a dry place on the United States Fish Commission Steamer 'Albatross ' until their arrival at Puget Sound, whence they were transmitted promptly to Washington by rail. So far as I am aware, no previous list of the plants of these islands has appeared, though the Pribilof Islands are mentioned as a locality under a number of species in ' Flora Rossica,' and Townsend enumerates 12 species that were brought back by him and identified by Dr. George Vasey.f The present list cannot *Read before the Biological Society of Washington, May 28, 1892. t Cruise of the Convhi for 1885, 1887, p. !)7. IS -Bior.. Soc. WASH., Yor, VII, 1892. (133) 134 Merriam Plants of the Pribilof Islands. be anything like complete, since I was on the islands altogether only two weeks and botanizing was incidental to more urgent duties; moreover, only limited parts of the islands were trav ersed, and the date (end of July and early August) was so late that many plants were past flowering. On several rambjes I had the good fortune to be accompanied by Mr. James M. Macoun, of the Geological and Natural History Survey of Can ada, who will doubtless supplement my list by many additional records, particularly from St. George Island, where my oppor tunities for collecting were reduced to a minimum. No collect ing was done on Walrus or Otter Islands. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS FOR THE DETERMINATION OF SPECIES. The majority of the flowering plants were identified by me on the islands. The entire collection on its arrival in Washington was examined by Dr. George Vasey, Botanist of the United States Department of Agriculture, and was turned over by him to Mr. J. N. Rose, Assistant Botanist, for critical study. Mr. Rose has gone over the collection, verifying and supplementing my determinations, and has contributed critical notes on four species, which are inserted in brackets over his initials. Special groups have been submitted to specialists for determination as follows : The willows have been identified by Dr. M. S. Bebb ; the grasses by Dr. George Vasey ; the Carices by Prof. L. H. Bailey ; the Juncaceae by Mr. F. V. Coville ; the mosses except the Sphagnums by Mrs. E. G. Britton, Mr. John M. Holzinger, and Dr. V. F. Brotherus, of Helsingfors, Finland; the Sphagnums by Dr. C. Warnstorf, of Neuruppin, Germany ; and the Hepaticse by Prof. L. M. Underwood. Six species of mosses collected on St. Paul Island by Mr. Macoun during our visit have been described as new by Dr. H. C. Kindberg.* BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THEIR VEGETATION. The Pribilof group in Bering Sea is about 350 kilometers (220 miles) north of the Aleutian Chain, and comprises the islands St. Paul and St. George, separated by about 641 kilometers (40 miles) of sea, and two islets known as Walrus and Otter Islands, * Ottawa Naturalist, vol. v, p. 179; separates issued January 12, 1892. Plants of the Pribilof Islands. 135 near St. Paul. St. Paul is the largest, measuring about 23i kilo meters (14 miles) in length by 12 kilometers (7$ miles) in greatest breadth ; St. George is a little less than 19.3 kilometers (12 miles) in length by a little more than 8 kilometers (5 miles) in greatest breadth. The highest land is on St. George, where a precipitous cliff fronting the sea and a hill in the interior exceed 275. meters (900 feet). The highest land on St. Paul is a little over 183 meters (600 feet). The group is of volcanic origin, and the general sur face is rolling, with precipitous cliffs along the water front in many places, alternating with broad valleys and basins. The cliffs predominate on St. George. In summer the islands are almost constantly enveloped in fog ; the atmosphere is saturated (the wet and dry bulbs registering the same), and the temperature is uniformly low. the thermometer ranging from 7 C. (= 45 F.) to 9 C. (= 48 F.) or rarely 10 C. (= 50 F.). A good many snow-banks were conspicuous on St. George at the time of our visit, and a few remained in sheltered places on St. Paul. Level moss-bogs and small fresh-water ponds abound, but the greater part of each island consists of extensive stretches of sloping or hilly land thickly strewn with volcanic rocks i meter to 2 meters (H to 6 feet) in diameter, with innumerable pit-holes between them. On iiearing the islands, if the fog lifts a little, the visitor is impressed by the luxuriance and intensity of color of the deep- green or yellowish-green vegetation which completely covers the surface, as in the case of the less precipitous slopes of the Aleutian Chain. This vegetation consists chiefly of rank grass and bog-moss, interspersed with multitudes of beautiful and showy flowers, which are numerous enough to give color to large areas. There is not a tree or bush on either island, and the highest woody plant a dwarf" willow (Salix reticulata) hardly reaches the height of 75 mm. (3 inches) above the moss-bed in which it grows. Many of the side hills and flats are buried waist deep in a dense growth of rank rye grass (Elymus mdlis) and cow parsnip (Heracleum lanafam), called ' poochka ' by the native Aleuts. A coarse but pleasing lupine (Lupinus nootkatensis), averaging nearly 1 meter (3 feet) in height and very bushy, is abundant in most parts of the islands, often growing in company with the handsome rnonkshood (Aconitum delphinifoliuni), which, together with the beds of Polemonium cgeru- 136 Merriam Plants of the Pribilof Islands. leum, cover nearly half the green carpet with blue and purple blossoms. Interspersed among the blue flowers just mentioned, and frequently forming large patches by itself, is the pink or pinkish-purple Pedicularis langsdorffii. Then there are acres of the showy Alaska -poppy (Papaver nudicaule), the individual plants standing near enough together to give a delicate yellow glow to the areas they cover. In places the moss and heather bogs are blue from the abundance of blue bells (Campanula lasiocarpa), whose disproportionately large flowers actually recline on the moss through which their short stems rise, while another species of the same genus (C. pilosa) is inconspicuous and easily over looked. Other bogs are covered with the deep yellow flowers of Geum rossii. A blue violet ( Viola langsdorfii), a blue a-nd white gentian (Gentiana frigida\ a spring beauty (Claytonia arctica), the Alaska oxeye (Chrysanthemum arcticuni), a dwarf cornel (Cornus unalascensis), and the pretty white star-flower (Trientalis arctica) are common in places on the moss-bogs, and sometimes grow in the grass also. Beds of Omphalodes nana chamissonis and 'Silene acaulis are common in spots, especially about Bogoslof hill and Polavina, but were mostly past flowering at the time of my visit. Several species of saxifrage are common, the most conspicuous being S. hircidus, whose rich, deep-yellow blossoms are much admired. The raspberries are represented by two dwarf species. Rubus stellatus and R. cham&morus; the former was in full bloom and the latter in fruit. The beautiful sea vetch (Lathyrus maritimus} abounds in a few spots, but is not generally distributed, and the 'showy lungwort (Mertensia maritima) is common at Northeast Point on St. Paul, and was found sparingly in a few other places, always along the shore. Primula nivalis is common in a depres sion at the mouth of a large cave on Bogoslof hill, but was not found elsewhere on St. Paul. Ferns are rather scarce, though several species occur. The prevailing moss of the moss-bogs is Racomitrium lamtginosum. Sphagnum is scarce on St. Paul, but common on the low bogs of St. George. Heather (Empctrum nigrum) abounds on both isl ands, forming extensive beds sometimes pure, but usually mixed with moss. Its black umbilicated berries were ripening early in August. Two species of Lycopodium occur, but are not common. Plants of the Pribilof Islands. 137 LIST OF PLANTS COLLECTED ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS IN JULY AND AUGUST, 1891.* Anemone richardsoni Hooker. Flowering specimens collected on St. Paul August 7. Not common. Ranunculus flammula reptans Meyer. Common about the edges of fresh-water ponds on St. George. Collected in flower August 10. Ranunculus eschscholtzii Schlerht. Found in flower among rocks near Bogoslof hill, St. Paul, August 7. Ranunculus hyperboreus Rottb. Found in flower on both St. Paul and St. George. Aconitum delphinifolium Reich. Abundant on both islands ; in full bloom during the latter part of July and early August. Those growing in the moss-bogs are smaller and more delicate than those on higher and drier ground. Papaver nudicaule Linn. Abundant on both islands; sometimes scattered here and there in the grass among other equally conspicuous flowers, but often growing in large beds on the moss and heather bogs, cover ing acres with handsome yellow flowers, which are of large size ; at height of blooming the last week of July ; petals falling early in August. Cardamine hirsuta Linn. Abundant on both islands. ~ x ~ Respecting the localities assigned, it should be borne in mind that most of the collecting was done on St. Paul Island ; hence a large number of the species here attributed to St. Paul alone doubtless occur in equal abundance 011 St. George. 138 Merriam Plants of the Pribilof Islands. Draba incana Linn. Tolerably common on St. Paul. Cochlearia officinalis Linn. Common on St. Paul; in full flower. Cerastium alpiiium Linn. Common on both islands ; in full flower. Cerastium arvense Linn. Collected on St. Paul Island by Townsend in 1885 and identi fied by Dr. Vasey. Viola langsdorfii Fischer. Common on both islands ; at height of flowering about the end of July. Silene acaulis Linn. Common in small patches, particularly on rocky hillsides ; past prime. Lychnis apetala Linn. Common on St. Paul. Stellaria crassifolia Ehrh. Collected on St. George August 10. Stellaria humifusa Rottb. Rather common on St. Paul. Stellaria media Smith. Common on St. Paul. Arenaria macrocarpa Pursh. Abundant on the heather and moss bogs on both islands. Flowers large, white. Arenaria peploides oblongifolia Watson. Common in moss bogs near Polavina on St. Paul. Plants of the Pribilof Islands. 139 Sagina linnaei Presl. Common on both islands. Claytonia arctica Adams. Common on St. Paul ; in full bloom the end of July. Montia fontana Linn. Tolerably common on St. Paul. Lupinus nootkatensis Donn. Very abundant and conspicuous on both islands ; grows high and rank ; flowers past prime before end of July. Lathyrus maritimus Bigel. Common in a few places on St. Paul; in full flower July 30. Rubus chamaemorus Linn. Abundant on both islands, particularly on the heather bogs. Fruit full grown but imperfect and not ripe the latter part of July. Rubus stellatus Smith. Common on the heather bogs of both islands. In full bloom the latter part of July ; flowers deep, rich red. Geum rossii Seringe. Abundant on both islands and growing in the moss bogs in patches a meter or two in diameter. A little past prime in early August. The deep yellow flowers are showy and handsome. Potentilla fragiformis Willd. Common on St. Paul ; past prime. Potentilla palustris Scop. Common in some of the sphagnum bogs on St. George; in flower the first week in August. Saxifraga bracteata Don. Common on St. Paul. 140 Merriam Plants of the Pribilof Islands. Saxifraga chrysantha Gray. Common in places near Bogoslof hill on St. Paul. Its rich yellow flowers are conspicuous, though considerably smaller than those of S. liirculus. Saxifraga hieracifolia Waldst. & Kit. Common in places on St. Paul. Saxifraga hirculus Linn. Common in patches in the Polavina moss-bogs. Flowers large, yellow, and handsome. Saxifraga stellaris comosa Willd. Collected on St. George August 10. Saxifraga unalaskensis Sternb. Collected on Polavina moss bogs August 8. Chrysosplenium - . Collected on Bogoslof hill, St. Paul Island, August 7, 1891. [Acaulescent 6*r with a single leaf, 1 to 3 inches [25-75 mm.] high, pubescent, purplish ; radicle leaves 011 petioles nearly as long as the stems, pubescent ; blade oval, 3 to 5 lines [6-10 mm.] broad, 4- to 5-crenate, nearly glabrous ; involucral leaves several, shortly petioled, entire or 3-crenate, longer than the flowers ; calyx purple, 3 lines [6 mm.] broad, 4-lobed ; stamens 8, half as long as sepals; disk prominent. St. Paul Island, Pribilof group. August 7, 1891. Collected by C. Hart Mer riam. It seems nearest C. alter nifolium. The variety tctrandntrn, to which all our North American forms have been referred, has smaller greenish flowers, 4 'stamens, and more leafy sterns. J. N. PvOSE.] Hippurus vulgaris Linn. Tolerably common on St. George. Epilobium anagallidifolium Lam. Collected on St. George August. 10. [A peculiar form [100-125 mm.] 4 to 5 inches high, erect; peduncle 11 to 2 inches long p>8-50 mm.] ; capsule single or in Plants of the Pribilof Islands. 1 41 pairs. Dr. Wm. Trelease thinks it must be " the more erect long-pedicelled form " of this species. J. N. R.] Heracleum lanatum Mirhx. Abundant on both islands ; very large and rank, averaging more than a meter (3 feet) in height. In full flower early in August. This plant is called ' poochka ' by the natives, who eat the stalks raw after peeling as we peel pie plant ; it is not at all bad. Ligusticum scoticum Linn. Rather common. Cce'oplureum gmelini Ledob. Common and rank. Cornus unalaskensis Ledeb. Not common or generally distributed. Tolerably common on the moss bogs at Polavina and near Bogoslof hill, on St. Paul, and in places on St. George. In full flower early in August. Valeriana capitata Pallas. Tolerably common ; past prime before the end of July. Valeriana sylvatica Banks. Collected on St: Paul Island by Townsend and identified by Dr. Vasey. Achillea raillefolium Linn. Common on both islands. Aster sibiiicus Linn. Common on a moss bog on St. Paul, between the village and Polavina. In full flower early in August. Chrysanthemum arcticum Linn. Common in places on both islands, usually in moss bogs ; at height of flowering early in August. 19 Bror.. Snr. WASH., Von. VIT, 1892. 142 Merriam Plants of the Pribilof Islands. Artemisia globularia Cham. Common in places on St. Paul, particularly about Polavina. St. Paul is the type locality of this species. [It has rarely been collected, and until now has been a desid eratum in the National Herbarium. J. N. R.] Artemisia norvegica pacifica Gray. Specimens determined by Mr. Rose as belonging to this sub species were collected on both St. Paul and St. George, although the forms inhabiting the different islands are distinguishable. [The type form of A. norvegica, or at least the Rocky Moun tain plant which passes as such, is common upon St. Paul. Gray, in the Synoptical Flora, does not extend the range of the species so far north. The stems are [200-305 mm.] 8 to 12 inches high, nearly erect, and very villous (as are also the leaves) except near the base. On St. George occurs a nearly glabrate form, which answers to the var. pacifica. J. N. R.] Artemisia vulgaris tilesii Ledeb. Collected near Bogoslof hill, on St. Paul, and near the village on St. George. [On St. George Island occurs A. vidgaris, var. tilesii, but the heads are so much larger than A. vulgar is that I am inclined to the opinion that this form should have been kept distinct. The form from St. Paul Island, although similar, has somewhat smaller leaves, and these are white-lanate on both sides. J. N. R.] Petasites frigida Fries. Tolerably common on St. Paul ; past flowering by August 1. Senecio pseudo-arnica Less. Common on St. Paul ; just coming into flower the first week in August. Taraxacum officinale lividum Koch. Not very common on St. Paul ; in flower early in August. Campanula lasiocarpa Cham. Common in places on St. Paul, particularly in the drier moss plains ; flowers large and handsome. Plants of the Pribilof Islands. 143 Campanula pilosa Pallas. Not common and easily overlooked. Found only between the village and Polavina on St. Paul; in full flower in early August. Armeria vulgaris Willd. Common in beds on both islands ; past prime. Primula nivalis Pallas. Common in a depression at the mouth of Bogoslof cave ; not found elsewhere on St. Paul. Common in places on St. George. Nearly past flowering by the end of July. Androsace chamaejasme Host. Common on both islands, but nearly out of flower by the end of July. Trientalis europaea arctica Ledeb. Tolerably common, but scattering ; in full flower the latter part of July. Gentiana tenella Rottb. Collected on St. Paul by Townsend and identified by Dr. Vasey. Gentiana frigida Hsenke. - Common and showy on some of the moss bogs near Bogoslof and Polavina on St. Paul ; at height of bloom about August 10. Gentiana glauca Pallas. Mr. Macouii tells me he found this gentian on St. George. Polemonium caeruleum Linn. Abundant on both islands, flowering profusely, and often cov ering large areas ; past prime by the first week in August. Omphalodes nana chamissonis Herder. Common in small patches on Bogoslof hill,' St. Paul, but nearly out of flower by the first of August. 144 Merriam Plants of the Pribilof Islands. Mertensia maritima Don. Common at Northeast Point and along some of the gravel beaches elsewhere on St. Paul. In full flower the latter part of July. Pedicularis langsdorffii Fisch. One of the most abundant and conspicuous plants on both islands. Grows in large patches and presents such a diversity of forms as to suggest several species. Flowers past prime by end of July. Gymnandra gmelini Cham. & Schl. Collected at the mouth of Bogoslof cave on St. Paul August 7, where it Avas common and past prime. Oxyria reniformis Hooker. Rather common in places, particularly about Bogoslof hill on St. Paul. Folygonum viviparum Linn. Abundant on both islands ; past prime. The willows have been determined by Mr. M. S. Bebb as follows : Salix arctica Pallas. Collected on Polavina moss bogs, St. Paul, August 8. Salix phylicoides And. Collected at Bogoslof hill, St. Paul, August 7. Salix reticulata Linn. Abundant on both islands, growing in dense mats on the bogs. Though the branches are long, they are prostrate and buried in the moss, so that the highest leaves rarely reach more than 70 or 80 mm. (21 or 3 inches) above the general surface of the bog. Plants of the Pribilof Islands. 145 Salix [intermediate between S. arctica and S. ovalifolia may possibly be a hybrid. M. S. BEBB.] Collected July 30 on St. Paul. Empetrum nigrum Linn. Abundant on both islands and forming the covering of large areas. It sometimes forms pure heather bogs, but more often is mixed with moss, usually Racoinitrium. Fritillaria kamtschatcensis Ker. Common on St. George between Zapadnie and the highest part of the island; not seen on St. Paul. The rushes (Juncaceas} have been determined by Mr. F. V. Coville as follows : Luzula arcuata unalaschkensis Buchenau. Collected on St. George Island. Luzula confusa latifolia Buchenau. Common on St. Paul. Luzula campestris sudetica Celakovsky. Common on St. Paul. The sedges (Cyperaceas) have been determined by Prof. L. H. Bailey as follows : Carex alpina Swartz (form). Collected on St. George Island August 10. Carex cryptocarpa Meyer (form). Common on Polavina. St. Paul. Carex norvegicp Schk. Common with the last species. Merriam Plants of the Pribilof Islands. Carex rigida bigelovii Tuckerman ( C. hyperborea Drejer). Common on St. Paul. The grasses have been determined by Dr. George Vasey as follows : Phleum alpinum Linn. Common on both islands. Alopecurus alpinus Linn. Collected on St. Paul Island. Alopecurus macounii Vasey. Collected on St. George Island. Arctagrostis latifolia Griseb. Collected on St. Paul Island. Calamagrostis deschampsioides Triii. Collected on St. Paul Island. Deschampsia caespitosa arctica Vasey. Common on the old seal rookeries. Arctophila fulva Rupr. Collected on St. Paul Island. Poa arctica R. Br. Collected on St. Paul Island. Glyceria angustata Fries. Common on the abandoned parts of the seal rookeries. Elymus mollis Trin. Abundant and rank ; the tall grass of the islands. Ferns are rather scarce on the Pribilof Islands. The speci mens collected and brought back by me have been mislaid in the National Herbarium and cannot now be found. The same is true of the club-mosses. The following ferns were collected Plants of the Pribilof Islands. 147 on the Pribilof Islands by Mr. C. H. Townsencl in 1885 and identified by Dr. George Vasey (see Cruise of the Corwin for 1885, 1887, p. 97) : Polypodium vulgare Linn. Aspidium spinulosum Swartz. Aspidium lonchitis Swartz. The following species of Lycopodium was identified in the field : Lycopodium selago Linn. Found sparingly in a few places, particularly on St. George Island. Mr. John M. Holzinger has kindly undertaken the determina tion of the mosses. In this he has been assisted by Mrs. E. G. Britton of New York, Dr. V. F. Brotherus of. Helsingfors, Fin land, and Dr. C. Warnstorf of Neuruppen. Germany. The latter is sole authority for the Spfiagnums, in the list of which, owing to the peculiarities of the nomenclature employed, the word 'forma ' and the name following are inserted as given by Dr. Warnstorf in order to avoid the use of pure quadrinomials. The Dicranum was determined by Prof. C. R. Barnes of Madison, Wisconsin. In the case of these Sphagnums I fear a transposition of labels has taken place, since most of the specimens were collected on St. George Island and only one or two on St. Paul the latter from Bogoslof hill. Species and subspecies preceded by an asterisk (*) were col lected by Mr. James M. Macoun on St. Paul Island in July and August, 1891, and described as new by Dr. N. C. Kindberg in the Ottawa Naturalist, vol. v, January 12, 1892, p. 179. Bartramia ithyphylla Brid. Collected on St. Paul Island. Bryum arcticum Bruch. Collected on St. Paul Island. 148 Merriam Plants of the Pribilof Islands. * Bryum brachyneuron Kindberg. x Bryum froudei Kindberg. Bryum pendulum Schimp. Collected on St. Paul Island. Bryum inclinatum Br. & Sch. Collected on St. Paul Island. Ceratodon purpureus Brid. Collected on St. Paul Island. * Ceratodon heterophyllus Kindberg. Desmatodon systilius Br. & Sch. Collected on St. Paul Island. Dicranum elongatum Schleich. Collected on St. Paul Island. Hypnum (Calliergon) cordifolium Hedw. Collected on St. Paul Island. Hypnum (Pleurozium) splendens Hedw. Collected on St. Paul Island. Hypnum (Hylocomium) squarrosum Linn. Collected on St. Paul Island. Hypnum (Hylocomium) triquetrum Linn. Collected on St. Paul Island. Hypnum (Brachythecium) rivulare Brnch. Collected on St. Paul Island. Mnium subglobosum Br. & Sch. Collected on St. Paul Island. Oncophorus wahlenbergii Brid. Collected on St. (Jeorge Island. Plants oj the Pribilof Islands. 149 Orthotrichum laevigatum Zelt. Collected on St. Paul Island. Orthotrichum microblephare Schimp. Collected on St. Paul Island. Philonotis fontana Brid. Collected on St. Paul Island. Polytrichum alpiiium Linn. Collected on St. Paul Island. Polytrichum strictum Banks. Collected on St. Paul Island. Racomitrium microcarpon Brid. Collected on St. Paul Island. Racomitrium lanuginosum Brid. Collected on St. Paul Island. Tetraplodon mnioides Br. & Sell. Collected on St. Paul Island. Webera cucullata Schimp. Collected on St. Paul Island. 'Webera canaliculata microcarpa Kindberg. * Didymodon baden-powelli Kindberg. Sphagnum fimbriatum arcticum Jens. Sphagnum fimbriatum arcticum forma fuscescens Warnst. Sphagnum lindbergii microphyllum forma brachydasyclada Warnst. Sphagnum riparium Angstr. Sphagnum squarrosum imbricatum forma brachyanoclada Warnst. Sphagnum squarrosum semisquarrosum Russ. 20-BioL. Soc. WASH., Voi,. VII, 1892. 1 50 Merriam Plants of the Pribilof Islands. The following species of Hepaticw were collected on St. Paul Island and determined by Prof. L. M. Underwood : Diplophyllum taxifolium Nees. Herberta adunca S. F. Gray. 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X8AUOO oj^J sao-Bjjns I8UUT pui3 JO^iio oq^ q^oq ^ squoraeq'Bqs aqq UT sqsisuoo iioiqdijosop eqq jo qj-ed {'Biquessa oqj^ IXX 8q-B-[d '9^ 8in% III UAVOI[S su9iut09ds oqq jo ouo pu^ 'tyfi oS^d 'g^x'joj Xraop'eoy oqq jo 9qq ui poq'Bodoj Suioq suoiqduosop oqq '99^; aS-ed ( ^t8I f Ktqdpp'B{iq c [ jo saouaiog -[i?jnq^ jo Xuiap-eoy oqq jo sSui UI pOqUOSOp ^J|-BUlSuO S13A1 g8IOads 9q^ '9.I9qAV9g[9 9UOU qqiAV qgiu pi?q gq 'uoqsgjj'eqQ jo c S9uqojj *g '^ jo 9qq ui U9iui09ds 9^uis ^ jo uoiqcfooxa 9qq qqi e)l ll J sspiiisng jisso^ 9qqjo quiouopj siq uj 'svorn 'v vi Aa o IXOMIOW Noaouvnouvo NO 'N010NIHSVM JO A13IOOS IVOlDOlOia S681 'ATOp 8QL-IQI 'dd '||A VOL. VII, pp. 159-174 SEPTEMBER 29, 1892 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON DESCRIPTION OF A NEW GENUS AND SPECIES OF MURINE RODKXT (XEXOMYS NELSONP) FROM THE STATE OF COLIMA, WESTERN MEXICO. BY C. HART MERRIAM, M. D. Among the many interesting mammals recently collected by Mr. E. W. Nelson in western Mexico is a handsome rat-like rodent which seems to he not only an undescribed species, but the type of a new genus. In form and general external appear ance it looks like a rather small wood rat of the genus Neotoma, but differs from the members of that genus, and in fact from all other known North American marines, in having a large and clearly defined whitish spot over each eye and another (though less conspicuous) below each ear. The upper lips and cheeks also are white more than half way to the eyes, giving the animal a very pretty as well as unusual physiognomy. The color of the back and upper parts generally is deep tawny red or fulvous, while the under parts are creamy white. The skull and teeth present a combination of characters so unlike those of any known rodent that a new genus must be framed for its reception. While resembling Neotoma more closely than any other genus, it differs from it in many important characters. With a skull much like that of Neotoma mexicana, it has well developed supraorbital 22-Bioi,. Sor. WASH., VOL. VI I, I*ii2. (159) 160 Merriam New Genus and Species of Murine Rodent. beads like NydffnvyB^ large lachrymals, a large interparietal, and large and greatly inflated audital bulltr, which differ from those of any murine with which I am acquainted and resemble those of some of the carnivores. In dentition it combines the 3-rooted upper molars of the true murines with the non-tubercular pris matic grinding crowns of the arvicolines, and has the broadly rounded alternating closed triangles of Pkenacomys, only even more crowded. The new genus may be characterized as follows : Xenomys * gen. nov. Skull resembling that of Neotoma in general form and appear ance, but differing in possessing marked elevated and laterally projecting supraorbital beads, much larger and heavier lach rymals, greatly enlarged and inflated audital bulla?, which are elongated antero-posteriorly and parallel to the axis of the skull and to each other, instead of being set obliquely as in Neotoma, (in which genus they would meet in the middle of the pterygoid fossa if produced forward along their strongly convergent axes). The anterior border of the squamosal above the zygomatic pro cess is marked by a projecting vertical ridge corresponding to the postorbital process of Cunictdus, Myodes, and Phenacomys, and serving to indicate the separation of the (small) temporal from the (large) orbital fossa. Posteriorly the squamosal does not reach the occiput as it does in Neotoma, but ends about half-way between the posterior root of the zygoma and the occiput. Its posterior spicule reaches the mastoid. The paroccipital pro cesses are long and stout. The interparietal is very large and somewhat diamond-shaped. The condyloid process of the mandi ble is long and slender and higher than the coronoid process. Dental Characters. Molars truly rooted ; the roots closed at the tips ; upper molars 3-rooted ; lower molars 2-rooted. First upper molar with anterior and posterior roots subcylindric and a broad flat root in the middle on the inner side, the latter slightly notched at the tip and having the appearance of two roots grown together. Between the middle and posterior root in the speci men examined is a small needle-like auxiliary or supplemental root about half the length of the others ; middle upper molar with 2 anterior and 1 posterior roots, the anterior on the inner side about double the size of the others ; last upper molar with * Xenomys: from f;''"^, strange, and fJ-~>$, mouse. New Genus and Species of Murine Rodent. 161 2 anterior and 1 posterior roots ; molar series large and heavy, much broader than in Neotoma or Arvicola ; crowns flat, pris matic, non-tubercular, with broadly rounded and crowded alter nating closed triangles as in Phenacomys and Arvicola (only much more crowded) and bearing no resemblance to the narrow trans versely elongated loops of Neotoma ; crown of last lower molar deeply incised on the inner face a little anterior to the middle by a narrow trenchant reentrant angle which carries a fold of enamel obliquely forward and outward across the tooth. On the outer side a short reentrant angle pushes a loop of enamel obliquely forward and inward toward the middle of the long fold from the opposite side, leaving an anterior loop, a posterior loop, and a small closed or nearly closed triangle on the outside about the middle of the tooth. The resulting pattern is shaped like the letter S, with a small closed triangle on the outer side of the convexity, thus differing widely both from the 3 transverse loops of Arvicola and Phcnacomys and from the 2 transverse loops or figure-8 pattern of Neotoma ; upper incisors plane or with a faint bead on each side of the anterior face, which is nearly flat and yellow ; lower incisors plane, convex in front, pointed. In describing genera from single species it is not always pos sible to distinguish dearly between generic and specific char acters, unless indeed the genus is based on a single character. In the event of the discovery of additional species of the present genus it may be found that some of the characters here ranked as generic are only specific or, on the other hand, that some here considered specific are really generic. The species may be known from the following description : Type No. IHH $ ad. U. S. National Museum (Department of Agri culture collection). From Hacienda Magdalena, Colima, Mexico, March 21, 1892. Collected by E. W. Nelson. (Original number, 2288.) Measurements (in millimeters, taken in flesh by collector). Total length, 300; tail vertebra?, 143; hairs, 6;. hind foot, 30; ear (in dry skin) from crown, 18 ; from anterior root, 22. General. Characters. Size about that of a half or two-thirds grown rat, or nearly equaling Xeotoma me.cicana ; tail a little shorter than head and body, well haired, particularly above ; face ornamented by a distinct whitish spot over each eye and a -'Named in honor of its collector, Mr. E. W. Nelson. 162 Merriam New Genus and Species of Murine Rodent. less distinct one under each ear ; color of upper parts rich ful vous ; under parts white ; ears about half as long as the head and nearly naked (sparsely clothed with fine, inconspicuous hairs) ; whiskers reaching back to shoulders ; fur soft. Color. Upper parts fulvous or tawny-rufous, palest on the head and brightest over the rump, flanks, and hips; back sparsely mixed with black-tipped hairs ; an ill-defined dusky ring around each eye, above which is a whitish spot about as large as the eye itself; a less distinct whitish spot just below the inferior root of the ear ; upper lips white, the white color extend ing up on the cheeks more than half way to the eyes ; sides of face below eyes and ears washed with fulvous, whiskers black ish ; tail concolor, dark umber-brown all round ; upper surfaces of feet whitish, more or less clouded with dusky (varying con siderably in the three specimens) ; under parts creamy white to the very roots of the hairs except along the sides of the belly, where the basal part of the fur is plumbeous ; line of demarka- tion between colors of upper and lower parts everywhere sharp and distinct. An immature but full-grown specimen from Armeria, Colima (collected March 2, 1892), has a small whitish lanuginous tuft in front of the anterior base of each ear, in addition to the mark ings of the specimens from Hacienda Magdalena, already de scribed. This may be characteristic of the winter pelage. The same specimen has white feet, and the white of the face is more extensive. Cranial Characters. The principal cranial peculiarities have been pointed out in the generic description. The great size of the audital bullse is doubtless a specific character, though not the direction of their axes. The bullaj are broader anteriorly than posteriorly, and curve slightly outward in front of the meatus, where the inflated portion is much more extensive than that behind it. The large size of the interparietal also is in all probability a specific feature. In one of the three skulls its antero-posterior diameter along the median line equals that of the parietals. The ascending branches of the premaxillaries reach as far back as the nasals, which end on a line with the lachrymals. Dental Characters. (The generic characters already mentioned are not repeated here.) First upper molar, with crown more than half as broad as long; outer side straight; inner side New Geiius and Species of Murittc Rodent. 163 strongly convex, with one anterior and one posterior closed loop, and one external and two internal lateral closed triangles. Middle and last upper molars each with one anterior and one posterior closed loop, and one lateral closed triangle on each side (sometimes the lateral triangles are not quite closed in the last tooth). The anterior loops of the second and third upper molars are strongly pyriform, as in Phcnacomys. First lower molar with anterior half bent strongly outward? the anterior loop looking outward instead of forward. This tooth has an anterior loop, a posterior loop, an external lateral closed triangle, and two internal lateral triangles, the posterior of which is closed. Second lower molar with one anterior and one posterior closed transverse loop, and one lateral closed tri angle on each side ; last lower molar with an anterior oblique closed loop, a posterior oblique closed loop, and a lateral closed (or nearly closed) triangle on the outer side. (This tooth is described more in detail in the generic diagnosis.) Haunts ami Habits. Almost nothing is known of the life his tory of this interesting and heretofore unknown animal. Respect ing the specimens from Hacienda Magdalena Mr. Nelson writes : 11 Not common. The two specimens obtained were caught, in hollow trees." Another " was taken in the low dense woods near the mouth of the Armeria River. They live in hollow trees." Measurements (taken in flesh] of Xenomys nelsoni. U.S. National Museum No. 3 .' . s Locality. Date. X & 43 t i Tail vertebrae. 1 73 a hrH HH Skin. Skull. 33280 33281 33282 45285 45286 45287 1972 2288 2318 Armeria, Colima, Mexico. Hacienda Magdalena, Colima, Mexico. Hacienda Magdalena, Colima, Mexico. Mar. 2, '92 Mar. 21, '92 Mar. 23, '92 C? C? C? 315 300 335 155 143 170 31 30* 32 Type. DESCRIPTIONS OF NINE NEW MAMMALS COLLECTED BY E. W. NELSON IN THE STATES OF COLIMA AND JALISCO, MEXICO. BY C. HART MERKIAM, M. 1). The well known ornithologist, Mr. E. W. Nelson, whose zeal and indefatigable energy have led him to penetrate many remote and little-known regions for the purpose of eollecting mammals and birds, and whose efforts have been rewarded by the discov ery of many new species from the Arctic regions as well as the arid deserts and lofty mountains of the United States has re cently directed his steps into Mexico, in the interest of the United States Department of Agriculture. Diagnoses are here given of nine new mammals contained in the collections sent by him from Colima and Jalisco, in addition to the new genus and species just described (Xenomijs nelsonf).* Illustrations of cranial and dental characters will appear in a later paper. Genus Geomys. The collection contains three new pocket gophers of the genus Geomy* : a small species from the high mountains of Jalisco (G- nelsoni)] a large species from the plain of Colima (G-.fwnosus), and a large species from the valley of Zapotlan (G. gymnurus). They may be known from the following descriptions : Geomys nelsoni sp. nov. Type No. l^^l old , 1 as in Xen&mys, but differing from Xenomys in having a shallow reentrant angle on the outer side opposite the deep fold from the inner side; infracondyloid notch of mandible broadly open and but slightly concave. Mr. Nelson writes that in the neighborhood of Manzanillo this Descriptions of Nine New Mammals. 169 large and handsome wood rat " is abundant everywhere on the lower parts of the wooded hill slopes and adjacent dry ground covered with mesquite and other seed-bearing trees. It is strictly nocturnal, and usually lives in holes or burrows at the foot of a tree or under some convenient shelter, from which its pathway or trail, neatly cleared of brush, leaves, and twigs, leads away. It lives also in ledges of loose rock, and in a few such places small collections of sticks, shells of land crabs, and other Neotoma bric-a-brac were found. These were rare, however. Where the animals are common these trails intersect one another and form a network on the brush and tree-covered slopes. Sometimes their runwaj r s reach down on the low wooded flats close to the coast, but they are not common in such places." Neotoma tenuicauda sp. nov. Type No. f gjjlS c? ad. U. S. National Museum (Department of Agri culture collection). From north slope of the Sierra Nevada de Colima, Jalisco, Mexico (altitude :-!,(>50 meters, or 12,000 feet), April 13, 1892. Collected by E. W. Xelson. (Original number, 244(5.) Measurements (in millimeters, taken in flesh by collector). Total length, 340; tail vertebra?, 160; hind foot, 31. General Characters. Size smallest of the known species, being slightly smaller even than N. mexicana; tail slender and sparsely haired, bicolor; ears rather small, sparsely haired; fore feet soiled white ; hind feet whitish, clouded with dusky. Color. Upper parts dark brown, more or less suffused with yellowish fulvous, particularly on the neck and shoulders, pass ing into dark fulvous on the flanks and hips ; under parts soiled white (the plumbeous basal color showing through), with a salmon patch on the inner side of each axilla; tail bicolor, dusky above and whitish below ; fore feet and ankles soiled white; hind feet whitish, strongly clouded with dusky prox- imally (the dusky fading out in passing over the metatarsals) ; toes pure white. Cranial and Dental Characters. Nasals rather short, not reach ing plane of lachrymals, ascending rami of premaxilla? ending on plane of lachrymals ; audital bullre rather large for a Neotoma; molar series narrow, with sharph^ angular prisms ; first upper molar with an internal lateral closed triangle ; lower molars with 170 Merriam Descriptions of Nine New Mammals. the transverse loops long and narrow, the inner reentrant angles about twice as deep as the outer ; first lower molar with anterior loop double, forming a projecting antero-external loop and an internal lateral loop. Mr. Nelson says of it : " A small wood rat was found living in crevices in the rocks, at an elevation of 12,000 feet, on the north slope of the Sierra Nevada de Colima." This is in the upper fir belt. At Zapotlan, in the valley below, he obtained five specimens of a form similar to the present but slightly larger and with con- color tails. Genus Sitomys. Among the small rodents collected are numerous specimens of two mice which in general appearance look almost precisely like the common house mouse (Mus musculus), but are still smaller and have shorter tails. They may be roughly separated into two series, according to size. The smaller is a form (or subspecies) of Sitomys taylori, which was described by Mr. Old- field Thomas a few years ago from specimens obtained at San Diego, Duval county, Texas; the larger apparently is an unde- scribed 'species, here designated as Sitomys musculus sp. nov. Type No. ^jU'o $ ad. 17. S. National Museum (Department of Agri culture collection). From near Colima City, Mexico, March 0, 1892. Collected by E. W. Nelson. (Original number, 2055.) Measurements (in millimeters, taken in flesh by collector). Total length, 123 ; tail vertebra?, 48 ; hairs, 1 ; hind foot, 17 ; ear (in dry skin) from anterior root, 5.5. General Characters. In size, color, and external appearance Sitomys muscnlus looks almost exactly like a small common house mouse (Ma* tn/i^r////i^\ except that the tail is shorter. It is smaller than any known species of Sitomi/s except N. tni/l.) Measurements (in millimeters, taken in flesh by collector). Total length, 155; tail vertebra?, 34; hairs, 4; hind foot, 20a ; ear from anterior root, 14 (in dry skin). Color. Upper parts dark bistre, grizzled, and thickly inter spersed with long black-tipped hairs ; under parts plumbeous, more or less washed with dilute tawny-drab ; tail indistinctly bicolor, sooty above, paler below. 172 Merriam Descriptions of Nine New Mammals. Cranial and Dental Characters. Skull resembling that of Arvi- cola moyollonensis in general form and in the vertical expansion of the middle part of the zygomatic arch and the deflection of the short nasals. The incisive foramina are a little more than U times the length of the premaxillary symphesis ; the audital bulbe are large and smoothly rounded ; the last upper molar has two lateral closed trjangles on its outer side, and the first lower molar has 3 lateral closed triangles on the inner and two on the outer side as in typical Mynomes, but the middle upper molar has no trace of the postero-lateral loop characteristic of the members of that section from the eastern part of North America. Genus Sorex. No shrew of the restricted genus Sorex has been heretofore known from Mexico, though a single species has been described by Alston from Coban, Guatemala. It is of special interest therefore to record the fact that Mr. Nelson had the good fortune to secure specimens of two species on the north slope of the lofty Sierra de Colima, in Jalisco, neither of which appear to have been described. One of these, which I have named Sorex oreopolus, was found in Arricola runways in grassy places at an altitude of 3,050 meters (10,000 feet) ; the other, here named Sorex saussurei, was captured at the base of a rocky ledge in a sheltered cafion at an altitude of about 2,440 meters (8,000 feet). The latter species may be readity distinguished from the former by its much longer ears and tail, by the color of its under parts, and by cranial propor tions. In the relative size of the lateral unicuspidate teeth both of these shrews resemble Sorex dobsoni from the Saw Tooth mountains of Idaho, though the height of the teeth is much less.* The first and second upper unicuspids are subequal ; the third and fourth likewise are subequal and about half the size of the first and second ; the fifth is in the tooth row and dis tinctly visible from the outside, but is considerably smaller in n'utxxiu'ei than in oreopolus. Three specimens of N. oreopdus and two of S. saussurei were obtained. They may be known from the following descriptions : *See North American Fauna, No. 5, 1891, p. 33. Descriptions of Nine New Mammals. 173 Type No. \ll%l $ ad. IT. S. National Museum (Department of Agri culture collection). From the Sierra de Colima, Jalisco, Mexico (altitude', 10,000 feet), April 22, 1892. Collected by E. \V. Nelson. (Original num ber, 2517.) Measurements (in millimeters, taken in flesh by collector). Total length, 106; tail vertebra, 36; hairs, 11 ; hind foot, 13. General Characters. Size rather large ; tail short ; ears short, scarcely protruding beyond the fur. Color. Upper parts uniform sepia-brown, with a ' pepper-and- salt ' appearance ; under parts uniform drab ; tail bicolor, con- color with the upper and lower surfaces of the body, but darker near the tip on the under side. Cranial and Dental Character*. Skull smaller than that of S. orc.opolt.t-x, with rostral portion narrower and more compressed ; first and second lateral unicuspidate teeth subequal and largest; third and fourth subequal and about half as large as the first and second ; fifth rather large, plainly visible to the unaided eye from the outer side, and wholly in the tooth row ; consid erably longer antero-posteriorly than in 8. saiissurei. Sorex saussurei f sp. nov. Type No. H^l 9 a ^. U. S. National Museum (Department of Agri culture collection). From the Sierra de Colima, Jalisco, Mexico f altitude 8,000 feet), April 215, 1802. Collected by E. W. Nelson. (Original num ber, 2538.) Measurements (in millimeters, taken in flesh by collector). Total length, 115; tail vertebra, 48; hind foot, 14. General Characters. Size about equalling that of Sorc.c oreopo- luSj but with tail and ears considerably longer (tail about as long as the body without the head ; ears protruding conspicu ously beyond the fur). Color. Upper parts sepia-brown, slightly darker posteriorly ; under parts drab-gray on the throat and breast, clouded with * 'o/oeoTTiMoy, mountain-haunting. f Named in. honor of Professor Henri De Saussure, of Geneva, Switzer land, who described a number of new mammals from Mexico more than thirty years ago. ("Rev. et Mug. Zool., xii, 1860; xiii, 1861 ; xv, 1863). 174 Merri&m Deocriptions of Nine Xeir Mammals. sooty over the belly ; tail above concolpr with the back, slightly paler on the basal half below. Cranial Characters. Skull somewhat larger than that of N. orcnpolii*, with rostral portion more swollen : first and second lateral imicuspidate teeth snbeqnal and largest ; third and fourth snbequal and about half the size of the first and second ; fifth in the tooth row and distinctly visible from the outside. Though the first and second unicuspids are apparently equal in height, the second is really slightly larger than the first owing to its higher point of origin. VOL. VII, PP. 175-177 DECEMBER 22, 1892 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. THE OCCURRENCE OF COOPER'S LEMMING MOUSE (SYNAPTOMYS COOPERI) IN THE ATLANTIC STATES * BY DR. C. HART MERRIAM. Synaptomys coopcri is one of the rarest of North American mammals. Both genus and species were described and named 35 years ago by Professor Baird in a peculiarly informal way, in some remarks under the genus Myodes in his great work on mam mals published in 1857 (Pacific R. R. Reports, vol. vm, 1857, pp. 556-558). The description was based on a very imperfect specimen from an unknown locality, transmitted by Mr. William Cooper, of Hoboken, New Jersey. Of its probable source Pro fessor Baird said : u The animal is undoubtedly North American, probably from the New England states or New York ; possibly from Iowa or Minnesota." The type specimen lacked three feet, the tail, and the skin of the head. Another badly damaged skin, lacking both head and skull, accompanied it and may or may not have belonged to the same species. The next specimen of which we have any record was captured near Brookville, Indiana, in 1866, by Rufus Haymond, and by him transmitted to the Smithsonian, but its identity evidently was not made known until much later, for the species is not mentioned by Haymond in his annotated list of the ' Mammals found at the present time in Franklin County,' Indiana, pub- *Read at a meeting of the Biological Society of Washington, Nov. 5, 1892. 24 BIOL. Soc. WASH., VOL. VII, 1892. (175) 176 Merriam Occurrence of Cooper's Lemming Mouse. lished in 1869 (First Annual Report. Geol. Surv. Indiana, 1869, 203-208). The first published record after Baird's original description seems to have appeared in 1874 in Cones' ' Synopsis of the Muridse of North America' (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1874, 192-194). In this paper Coues mentioned specimens from Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Kansas, Oregon, and Alaska, but it is probable, if not absolutely certain, that those from Oregon and Alaska do not pertain to the species under consideration. The only locality in which Synaptomys has been found in any thing like abundance is the neighborhood of Brookville, Indiana, where Mr. Edgar R. Quick and Amos W. Butler have obtained a number of specimens. This, moreover, is the easternmost locality from which any positive record has been published. (See Am. Nat,, vol. xix, Feb., 1885, pp. 113-118.) In April, 1888, Dr. A. K. Fisher, while hunting at Munson Hill. Virginia (only about five miles from the city of Washing ton), found a number of ' pellets ' of the Long-eared owl (A*io wilsonianus) under a tree in which one of these owls habitually roosted. In examining these ' pellets,' which were made up almost wholly of the remains of small mammals, I was surprised not only at the large number of individuals and species repre sented, but also at the discovery among the rest of three more or less perfect skulls of Syimptomys cooperi. The total number of skulls found in these pellets was 176, of which 137 were of mice, 26 of shrews, and 13 of birds. The mice and shrews were posi tively identified as follows : Arvicola riparius 95 Arvicola pinetorum 24 Mus musculus : 15 Synaptomys cooperi 3 Blarina exilipes 23 Blarina brevicauda. . 3 Total 163 A year and a half afterward a single skull was taken from the stomach of a Barred owl (Sijrnium nebulosum) killed at Alfred Center, New York, October 11, 1889, and still later another was found in the stomach of a Red-tailed hawk (Buteo bor calls) killed at Sandy Spring, Maryland, March 24, 1890. These specimens were exhibited at one of the meetings of the Biological Society, Occurrence of Cooper's Lemming Mouse. 177 but publication was deferred in tbe hope that a specimen of the animal itself might be obtained. During the past season I had the good fortune to capture two specimens of Synaptomys on the summit of Roan Mountain, North Carolina, in traps set for shrews (Sorex) and red-backed mice (Erotomys). The first of these, an adult male, was caught August 29, 1892, at the mouth of its runway in a bed of dry moss overrun by mountain bluets (Houstonia serpylli/olia} in the edge of a grove of balsam firs (Abies froze fi). The second specimen, an adult female, was caught September 8 in a wet sphagnum bog near the spring that supplies the Cloudland Hotel with water. Both were taken at an altitude of 1,830 meters (above 6,000 ft.). Before leaving the mountain these specimens were shown to Mr. Elmer R. Edson, a young man temporarily resid ing there. Mr. Edson promised to set the 'cyclone' traps left with him, in the hope of securing additional specimens, and has been rewarded by the capture of two adults one in the same sphagnous bog from which my second specimen came, the other in a grove of balsams on the dry summit. In view of the records here published from North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and New York, it seems not unlikely that Baird's type really came from the latter State, or possibly even from New Jersey, the State in which the donor of the specimen, Mr. Cooper, lived. Persons interested in the capture of rare mammals will do well to keep a sharp lookout for this species in the cooler parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. ALPHABETICAL INDEX. New genera and species are printed in heavy type 5 synonyms in italics. Acerates auriculata.... Amarantus crassipes.. Amendments Annual meeting Page xviii xxii xi x Animal life, Factors in distribution of xviii Antillean division 18 Albatross, Cruise of, in Alaskan waters in 1892 xxiii Aplopappus iutereor Coville, sp. nov 65 Arctic division 8 Arctic mammals 24 Arctomecoii liuuiile Coville, sp. nov 67 Arctomecou merriami Coville, sp. nov.. 66 Areuaria compacta Coville, sp. nov 67 Asclepias stenophylla xviii Atlantic or Eastern forest region 11 Arvicola p line us Merriam, sp. nov 171 Aspidium lakesil (Lx.), Kn 154 Austroriparian division 14 Bailey, Vernon : Homes of our mammals... xix Influence of the cross timbers on the fauna of Texas xxiii Baillpn's Dictionary, Review of. xx Boreal division 9 Botanical Congress, Report on, at Genoa xxii Dictionary xx nomenclature, Controversial points in xxii Bozeman, Fossil flora coal field of 153 Boreal zone, Mammals of 24 Brickellia desertorum Coville, sp. nov.. 68 Bnddleia utaliensis Coville, sp. nov 69 By Laws viii Californian division 13 California, Flora of high Sierra Nevada of... xx Peninsula of Lower 16 Callirhinus 156 Callorhinus 156 Callotaria Palmer, gen nov 156 Cambrian fossils from Cohassett, Mass 155 Caprification of the fig 99 Carcharodon mortoni Gibbes 151 25-BiOL. Soc. WASH., VOL. VII, 1892. Page Corpuscles (Red), Peculiar forms of, in mammalia in anaemic conditions xviii Cestodes, Topographical relations of excre tory canals of xxiii Chsetodontoidea, On the super-family xxi Cohassett, Mass., Lower Cambrian fossils from 155 Committees xi Communications xi Congress, Botanical xxii Constitution vii Coon cave, Missouri xxi Corpuscles (Red Blood), Minute bodies within xxiii Coviile, Frederick V. : Comparative values of plants in determining floral zones., xxiii Conditions affecting the distribution of plants in North America xviii Descriptions of new plants from South ern California, Nevada, Utah, and Ari zona 65 Flora of the high Sierra Nevada of Cali fornia xx The present status of botanical nomen clature xxii The use of certain terms in geographic distribution xxi Uses of plants among the Panamint In dians xxi Cross timbers, Influence of fauna on xxiii Cynoinys mexicanus Merriam, sp. nov.. 157 Dall, W. H. : Factors in the distribution of animal life as illustrated by marine forms xviii Death Valley expedition xxii Distribution, Causes controlling 45 of animal life, Factors in xviii of land, water, and ice on the continent in later geological time xx of plants in North America, Conditions affecting xvii | Use of certain terms in geographical xxi Dispersion, Mountains as barriers to 56 Dittany, Frost freaks of. xxiv Dues ix (179) 180 Biological Society of Washington. Page Evermann, B. W. : The cruise of the U. S. Fish Commission steamer Albatross in Alaskan waters in 1892 xxiii Ki im roii calvns Coville, sp. nov 69 Krysimum asperum perenne Watson, var. nov ,. 70 Faunal and floral divisions, Historical syn opsis of 6 Faunas, Origin of 41 Fences, Entomological factors in problem of country xxii Fernovv, B. E. : Mathematics of forest growth xxiii What should be the scope and object of a biological society? xxiv Fig, Caprification of. 99 Fire flies, Photogenic organs of xx Flies (Fire), Photogenic organs of xx Fishes hide, Where salt-water xxi Floral zones, Comparative value of plants in determining xxiii Florida, Southern 17 Forest growth, Mathematics of, xxiii Fossil flora of Bozeman coal field 153 plants, Discovery of, in Potomac forma tion xxii Frasera tulmlosa Coville. sp. nov 71 Fur-seal, New generic name for 150 Genoa, Report on the Botanical Congress at xxii Geomys fiimosiis Merriam, sp. nov 165 .Geomys gymu urns Merriam, sp. nov 166 Geomys nelson! Merriam, sp. nov 164 Gilia setosissima puiictata Gray, var. nov 72 Gill, Theodore : On the super-family Chae- todontoidea xxi Glacial epoch 41 Grasses, Some new xxiii Ground squirrels xxiii Growth, Mathematics, of forest xxiii Hallock, Charles : Physiology of a pocoson.. xix Where salt-water fishes hide xxi Hicoria pecan, Variations in fruit of xix Holm, Theodor : Flora of Nova Zembla xix Studies of the morphological identity of stamens xvii Third list of additions to the flora of Washington, D. C 105 Page Holzinger, J. M. : On Amarantus crassipes.. xxii On the identity of Asclepias stenophylla and Acerates auriculata ._. xviii Hyolithes communis Billings 155 Indians (Panamint\ Use of plants among.... xxi Isomeris arborea globosa Coville, var. nov.... . 73 Knowlton, F. H. ; The fossil flora of the Bozeman coal field.... ... 153 Land, water, and ice, Distribution of, in later geological time xx Leguminosae, Mexican xx Liepidospartum striatum Coville, sp. nov 73 Louisianian division 14 Lucas, F. A.: On Carcharodonmortoni,Gibbes 151 M Mammalia, Peculiar forms of red corpuscles in xviii Mammals, Homes of xix McGee, W. J: The distribution of land, water, and ice on this continent in later geological periods xx Meetings ix Members viii Meiitzelia reflexa Coville, sp. nov 74 Merriam, C. Hart : Exhibition of a complete series of the large American ground squirrels of the subgenus OtoNpermophi- lus xxiii Coon cave, Missouri xxi Death Valley expedition xxii Description of a new prairie dog (Cyno- mys mexicanus) from Mexico 157 Description of a new genus and species of murine rodent (Xenomys nelsoni) from the state of Colima, Western Mexico 159 Descriptions of nine new mammals col lected by E. W. Nelson in the states of Colima and Jalisco, Mexico 164 Distribution of tree yuccas xix Fauna and flora of Roan mountain, North Carolina xxii Geographical distribution of life in North America 1 Plants of the Pribilof islands, Bering sea.. 133 Mexican leguminosee xx Mexico, New prairie dog from 157 Alphabetical Index. 181 Missouri, Coon cave xxi Mount Vernon, Fossil plants at xxii Myzomymus Stiles, gen. nov xvii N Nearctic regions 58 Neotoma alien! Merriam, sp. nov 168 Neotoma teuuicauda Merriam, sp. nov. 169 Nomenclature, Botanical xxii Some controversial points in botanical.... xxii North America, Conditions affecting distri bution of plants in xviii Life regions and zones of 21 Peculiar genera of mammals north of Mexico 61 North American tropical genera 34 North Carolina, Fauna and flora of Roan mountain xxii Northwest coast division 20 Nova Zembla, Flora of xix Officers Otospermophilus. viii ... xxiii Pacific division 13 Panamint Indians, Uses of plants among... xxi Palsearctic regions 58 Palmer, T. S. : A new generic name for the Bering sea fur-seal 156 Palmer, Dr. Edw xx Parasites, Notes on xvii, xix, xx Pliacelia perityloides Coville, sp. nov... 75 Phoca ursina L 156 Plants (Rare), Rediscovery of xxiii Relation of, to soil xx Pocoson, Physiology of a xix Poteiitilla eremica Coville, sp. nov 76 Poteutilla purpurasceus piiietorum Coville, var. nov 77 Potomac formation, Discovery of fossil plants in xxii Prairie division 20 dog, New species of, from Mexico 157 Pribilof islands, List of plants from 187 Pronuba, Development and transformation of 93 Pollination by and oviposition of. 86 Structural characteristics of 83 Psychology, Biological basis of xix Publication, Matter of xii Manner of xiii Rules relating to xii Publications . xi Quercus prinos X alba Page . xxii Rare plants, Rediscovery of xxiii Red blood corpuscles, Minute bodies with in xxiii Riley, C. V. : Pea and bean weevils xxii Some interrelations of plants and insects.. 81 Roan mountain, Fauna and flora of xxii Rose, J. N. : Critical notes on plants of Prib ilof islands 133 Mexican leguminosse, with notes on Dr. Palmer's collection xx On the rediscovery of certain rare plants xxiii Salisburia polymorpha Lx 153 Sarcobatus baileyi Coville, sp. nov 77 Saxifraga integrifolia sierrae Coville, var. nov 78 Saul's oak, Second specimen of xxii Seaman, W. H. : The photogenic organs of fire flies xx Sections xi Sierra Nevada of California, Flora of high... xx Sitomys musculus Merriam, sp. nov 170 Smith, Erwin F. : The relations of plants to the soil xx A review of Baiilon's Botanical Diction ary xx Smith, Theobold : On certain minute bodies (parasitic?) within the red blood cor puscles xxiii Peculiar forms of red corpuscles in mam malia in anaemic conditions xviii Sonoran region not a transition 33 Soil, Relation of plants to xx Sonoran division 15 Sorex oreopolus Merriam, sp. nov 173 Sorex saussnrei Merriam, sp. nov 173 Sph&nopteris lakesii Lx 154 Squirrels, Ground xxiii Stamens, Morphological studies of the iden tity of xvii Stiles, C. W. : Notes on parasites . Myzomy- mus, gen. nov xvii Notes on parasites : Strongylus rubidus xix Notes on parasites : Tcenia ovilla in its relations to Blanchard's classification... xx The topographical relations of the excre tory canals of cestodes xxiii Sty Iodine arizoiiica Coville, sp. nov 79 Straparollina remotas Billings 155 Strongylus rubidus xix 182 Biological Society of Washington. Page Sudworth, George B. : Some controversial points in botanical nomenclature xxii Teenia ovilla xx Texas, Influence of cross timbers on fauna of xxiii Thinnfeldia polymorph Lx., sp 153 Van Deman, H. E. : Variations in the fruit of Hicoria pecan xix Vasey, George: Report on the Botanical Congress at Genoa xxii Some new grasses xxiii W Walchia, A new, from New Mexico xxiii Walcott, Charles D. : Note on Lower Cam brian fossils from Cohassett, Mass 155 Wallace's fallacies, Remarks respecting 49 Page Ward, Lester F. : The biological basis of psychology xix Discovery of fossil plants in the Poto mac formation at the new reservoir, Washington, D. C., and at Mount Ver- non xxii Discovery of a second specimen of Saul's oak, Quercus prinos X alba xxii Frost freaks of the Dittany xxiv Washington, D. C., Additions to the flora of.. 105 Webster, F. M. : Some entomological factors in the problem of country fences xxiii Weevils, Pea and bean xxii White, David: A new walchia from New Mexico.... ... xxiii Xeiiomys Merriam, gen. nov 160 Xeiiomys nelson! Merriam, sp. nov 1G1 Yuccas, Distribution of tree Yucca moth, Bogus xix .. 96 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION LIBRARIES 3 9088 012051462