240 NATURAL SCIENCE. Oct., 1895. 



view of a serious topic underlies the rhetoric. Dr. Berdoe incorporates 

 in his argument a leader from the Star, in the Star's happiest " Knock 

 'em in the Old Kent Road" vein. He talks about the anti-toxin, 

 which he pretends to be discussing seriously, as " filth," and, with 

 regard to the question of hydrophobia, he says he " would as soon 

 believe the savages as he would M. Pasteur." For our part, we would 

 as soon deal with the Star at first hand as a scientific treatise as we 

 would with Dr. Berdoe. And we make our apologies to the Star for 

 the comparison. 



Count Solms-Laubach, Professor of Botany at Strasburg, has 

 contributed to our Linnean Society, of which he is a foreign member, 

 a Monograph of the Acetabularieae {Trans. Linn. Soc, vol. v., part i.). 

 Of the four genera included in this sub-family of siphonaceous green 

 algae the largest, Acetabnlaria, contains fifteen species, seven of which 

 are now described for the first time. Of these, five come from the 

 seas of tropical Asia, especially the far east, five from the neighbour- 

 hood of the Gulf of Mexico, three from the Australian Coasts, and 

 one from Mauritius. Halicoryne has two species, inhabiting the 

 Loo-Choo and PhiHppine Islands and New Caledonia respectively. 

 Chalmasia is a new genus with one species from the West Indies, 

 while Acicularia contains one recent species from the West Indies and 

 tropical South America and three fossil ones from the Miocene 

 of the Crimea and Austria, and the Eocene of the Paris basin. 



In our notice of the Index to Periodicals in our last issue (p. 214) 

 we omitted to mention a suggestion which appeared in the Review of 

 Revieivs for August. Several letters have been received by Mr. Stead 

 from readers, asking that certain magazines and periodicals of 

 occasional service, not preserved in public libraries, should be stored 

 at Norfolk House for the use of those requiring them. The idea 

 further is that such should be available for loan and return. This 

 is no doubt a good suggestion, but we fear even Mr. Stead would find 

 it an overwhelming charge. It seems more to the point to suggest 

 that Mr. Stead should present to some big library (say Guildhall, for 

 instance) at certain intervals those periodicals received by him but 

 missing in that library, rather than that he should start another Hbrary 

 for their special housing. 



