224 
the country people as a remedy for dysentery, and to arrest 
bleeding externally. There is no published analysis of the con- 
' stituents of these seeds, but the effects are evidently due to a 
considerable quantity of tannin which they contain. H. H.R. 
The death of Dr. Georg Winter is announced as having taken 
place August the 17th, 1887, at Connewitz, near.Leipzig. This 
will be a serious blow to Cryptogamic Botany, as he was editor 
of Hedwigia and had charge of the Section dealing with the 
Fungi in Rabenhorst’s Kryptogamen Flora von Deutschland. 
The Herbarium of Professor Henry H. Babcock has been pre- 
sented to the Northwestern University at Evanston, Ill., by Mrs. 
Babcock. It is said to contain more than 10,000 species, the 
greater number mounted and accessible. 
Brown University has recently received the gift of a valuable 
herbarium from Mr. E. R. Brownell, of Hartford, Conn. It 
was the property of C. M. Brownell, M.D., deceased, who was 
a devoted botanist, The collection contains about 2,500 species 
from Germany, Cuba, Russia, and the United States, especially 
Florida. It includes many duplicates, and the Cuban speci- 
mens are wholly unnamed. (W. W. Bailey. Annual Report 
Brown Univ., 1887.) 
On the History of Botany in Fapan—By Tokutaro Ito, 
F.L.S. (Journ. Bot., xxv., pp. 225-229; with portrait.) These 
remarks are intended as supplementary to the paper on the 
“Progress of Botany in Japan,” by F. V. Dickins, published in 
the Journal of Botany for May. The portrait is that of Ito 
Keisuke, the grandfather of Tokutaro Ito, and a brief account of 
his works.in botany is also given. 
Eleocharis, R. Br., Species in Europa vigentes recensuit C. B. 
Clarke. Mr. Clarke recognizes eight species of Heleocharis as 
European. J. palustris, R. Br., H. ovata, R. Br., (7. obtusa, 
Schultes), H. atropurpurea, Kunth, of general tropical distribution, 
and 7. acicularis, R. Br., are also found in North America. There 
is also a H. palustris, var. Watsoni, from Scotland, Newfounland, 
Labrador and Subarctic America. (Journ. Bot., xxv., pp- 267- 
271). es N. L. B. 
