BOTANICAL NOTES AND NEWS 121 



Spilocryptus abbreviator, Fab. ( = Fez. hopei, Gr.). $ near Balerno, 



9/5- 

 Goniocryptus titillator, Gr. $ $ Saltoun, E. L., 7/04. 



WILLIAM EVANS, Edinburgh. 



BOTANICAL NOTES AND NEWS. 



List of British Seed-plants and Ferns. This will be welcomed 

 by British botanists, whose thanks will be given to the authors, 

 Mr. James Britten and Dr. A. B. Rendle, and to the Trustees of the 

 British Museum, under whose authority it has just been issued as 

 one of the official publications from the Department of Botany, at 

 the very low price of fourpence. In the preface it is explained that 

 the list has been compiled in accordance with the International 

 Rules of Botanical Nomenclature, adopted by a large majority at 

 the Botanical Congress at Vienna in 1905. One of these rules 

 embodied the usage of zoologists that the earliest specific name must 

 stand, no matter under what genus the plant was first described in 

 a recognisable manner. Adherence to this rule entails some altera- 

 tions of name, though frequently these are returns to names familiar 

 a good many years ago to British botanists. The authors have 

 done a good deal more than merely compile the " List," having 

 made use of the admirable library of the Department to refer to the 

 original description of each species and thus ensure accuracy. 

 Varieties have not been included, nor have critical forms of Rubus, 

 Hieracium, Euplirasia, and Salix, the other genera and species 

 being accepted as limited in the gth edition of Babington's 

 " Manual," but the nomenclature is correlated for Bentham's 

 "Handbook," ed. 6, 1892, and Hooker's "Student's Flora," ed. 3, 

 1884. Of evident aliens only those thoroughly naturalised are 

 named, in italics. At the end of the List follows an arrange- 

 ment of the families according to recent views of their affinity. A 

 commentary explaining all changes of nomenclature rendered 

 necessary is given in the "Journal of Botany" for March (pp. 99- 

 108). Although finality in nomenclature can hardly be regarded as 

 attained, yet this may be accepted as representing a great step on 

 the way to a more satisfactory solution of the difficulties. 



New Species of Lichen, Aspicilia Lilliei, B. de Lesd. Ecosse ; 

 Caithness, Ousdale supra saxa granitica. Leg. Rev. D. Lillie, 1905. 

 Crusta tartarea, circa .5 mm. crassa, rimoso-areolata, alba, intus 

 flavida, K C KC . Apothecia minuta, atra, in areolis immersa, 

 rotundo-deformia, vel lirelliformia. Epith. olivaceum, hypoth. in 

 coloratura, paraphyses gelatinoso - concrete, asci anguste clavati. 

 Sporre 4-6, ellipsoideas, 13-15^ lat., 5-6 crass. Gelat. hym. I. in- 

 tense cserulescit. Cette espece a tout a fait 1'aspect de r Aspicilia 



