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r 888. ] BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 13I
able to pass an infallible judgment upon any plant from Clematis to Quill-
wort. Fortunately, this day of smattering seems to be passing away, and
systematists, even among phanerogams, are confining their attention
more and more to certain groups. The consequence must be a more
exhaustive study of these groups, an elaboration of all possible means
of classification based upon minute as well as gross structures, a com-
plete disentangling of synonymy, and establishing all claims of pri-
ority-in short, that detailed presentation of the subject which is necessary
if systematic botany proposes to be a progressive science. Even now
manuals are not the work of one man, and they will become less and less
so, until the best manual will be a very composite affair in the matter of
authorship. It is commonly supposed by the uninitiated that every bot-
anist who is more or less well known can unerringly determine " off-hand"
any plant that is presented to him. It would be far more comfortable for
some botanists if the "uninitiated" could be made to understand that
this is an entirely false supposition. Of course, there is a host of plants
that every botanist knows, but such are not the ones most frequently
thrust at him. He is called upon to decide upon critical cases--smne spe-
cies, for instance, in a difficult genus of most perplexing species. The
confession might as well be made that every botanist, however well-
informed, has to "dig out" all such plants from the books, and is in no
case ready with an "offhand" opinion except in the group which he
may just then be studying. A man may even have written a monograph,
but presently he will have to use it in the determination of plants like
any one else. There has been an astonishing amount of careless "off-
hand" naming done by botanists whose names carry weight, and who
blundered for the simple reason that they were not familiar with the sub-
ject. Specializing avoids all this, and critical points should always be
submitted to some botanist who is paying special attention to the group.
A botanist should no sooner think of sending a Composite to a man
chiefly familiar with Carex than a zoologist now thinks of sending a Sea-
urchin to a specialist in Crustacea.
OPEN LETTERS.
Is the strawberry poisonous ?
In reference to Prof. Prentiss' "open letter" under the above title
(this volume, p. 19), the cases recorded are evidently pure idiosyncrasies,
due not in the least to the psculiarity of the fruit, but to the peculiarity
of the sufferer. The precise nature of these idiosyncrasies is very ob-
scure, but they are certainly not due to mental influences, and the inter
esting circumstance that in the first case the rash always commenced
behindthe ears is evidence that irritation was caused to the ends of the
pneumogastric nerve, which is connected with the skin only by a twig
I32 BOTANICAL GAZETTE. [May,
supplying the tissue at the back of the ear. A sinlilar case has been re
ported to me on excellent authority, and is corroborated fully by the suf-
ferer himself, of a rash being invariably developed in a boy after eating
oatmeal, but in this instance it was unaccompanied by any alarming
symptoms. A somewhat different case of idiosyncrasy is recorded in
The Lancet (February 28, 1888, p. 394), in which a negro woman in Bar-
badoes experienced the most alarming symptoms after an ordinary dose
of cocaine. THEO. D. A. COCKRELL.
West Cliff, Colorado.
Botanical expedition to S. America.
As various inquiries are made in regard to the botanical expedition
to South America which I am contemplating, I feel at liberty to say a
word in this public way about the matter.
The plan is to start at Buenos Ayres, in the Argentine Republic, as
cend the Paraguay and Parana rivers as far as possible, and to collect the
water and land plants in the surrounding region along the southern
boundary of Bolivia and southwestern boundary of Brazil.
Attempts will be made to explore the tributaries of the great water
system which empties through the Rio de la Plata into the Atlantic.
Subsequently the Argentine Republic will be crossed westerly to the
Andes, and a visit made to Chili, with attempts to collect the little known
flora of the desert of Atacama.
Of course, these plans are liable to be modified by circumstances, but
it is hoped that a large and rare collection of the South American flora of
the regions visited may be made and brought home to enrich the her-
baria of our country.
If further information as to the disposal of the sets collected is de-
sired, letters may be addressed to the writer up to the 1st of June next,
or to Dr. N. L. Britton, of Columbia College, New York.
Ashland, Mass. THOrAS MORONG.
Report of the U. S. Mycologist for 1887.
Into the portion of this report which concerns California several
errors have crept that are to be regretted. All the fungi mentioned as
having been observed for the first time in California exist in my her-
barium, from Inumerous localities. Uromnyces Betla and Puccinia pruni-
spinosae were collected by me in 1876, and are included in Cat. uf Cal.
Fungi, published as long ago as 1880. Peronosporia viticola, an account
of which, with some localities, was given in Bull. 0C,. Acad., No. 7, June,
1887, abounds in California on our wild vine, Vitis Californica, and the
denial of its existence by the U. S. mycologist will be productive of very
mischievous results if it prevents our vine growers from taking measures
to protect themselves from this dreaded pest already in our midst.
San Francisco. H. . HARKNESS.
To the members of the Botanical Club of the A. A. A. S.
Your committee, appointed in August last, to devise a method for the
exchange of specimenesamong Amnerican botanists, have, after consulta-
tions with other botanists, decided that the most practical method is
through the herbarium of the Department of Agriculture at Washing-
ton.
