364 SOME NEW BOOKS [November 



AFRICAN FLORA. 



Catalogue of the African Plants collected by Dr. Welwitsch. Vol. II. Part 

 I. Monocotyledons and Gymnosperms. By A. B. Rendle, M.A., D.Sc. 

 8vo, pp. 260. Printed by order of the Trustees of the British Museum. 

 London, 1899. 



The issue of this, the fourth, part of the Catalogue of Dr. Welwitsch's African 

 plants within three years after the appearance of Part I., augurs well for the 

 completion of the work in the near future. There is wanting to complete the 

 account of the seed-plants only a few families of gamopetalous and the apetalous 

 families of dicotyledons. This will presumably form a fourth and last part of 

 vol. i. The work when finished will be a valuable contribution to our knowledge 

 of the tropical African flora. No collector, however assiduous, collects every- 

 thing, but examination of this and previously issued parts will show that Dr. 

 Welwitsch obtained, during his eight years' stay in the country, not only a large 

 number of species, but in most cases a good series of specimens illustrating 

 geographical distribution of individual species. The account of his collections is 

 therefore practically a Flora of that portion of West Tropical Africa which lies 

 south of the equator. The district comprises Angola proper and the more 

 southerly provinces of Huilla and Mossamedes, and the richness of the flora is 

 evident from an analysis of the monocotyledons. All the African orders, com- 

 prising twenty -seven out of a total of thirty-four, are represented, and these 

 include no less than 209 genera with 800 species. The most important are the 

 orchids, with 18 genera and 76 species; Liliaceae, with 23 genera and 92 

 species; Cyperaceae, with 17 genera and 166 species; and grasses, with 75 

 genera and 268 species. Scitamineae, Amaryllideae, and Aroideae are also 

 well represented. In striking contrast is the paucity of Gymnosperms. There 

 are no Cycads and no Conifers, while the third order Gnetaceae is represented 

 by a single endemic species of Gnetum, and that strangest of all seed -plants, 

 the discovery of which we owe to Dr. Welwitsch, and which has hitherto 

 been generally known as Welwitschia mirabilis. Unfortunately the rules of 

 nomenclature will not allow this name to stand. It was proposed by Sir Joseph 

 Hooker in honour of the discoverer in 1862, but exactly a year before a 

 short notice had been published by Welwitsch himself, in which he suggested 

 the name Tumboa, from the native name of the plant. So Turriboa it must be. 



By the way, and the remark applies to the other parts which have appeared, 

 we note with some regret the absence of plates. In the present part no less 

 than 113 new species are described, and however full a description maybe, 

 there can be no two opinions as to the additional value of such plates as we are 

 accustomed to associate with British Museum catalogues. A general account of 

 the flora of the district in question would also form a useful appendix. 



MODERN CHEMISTRY. 



Grundriss der Allgemeinen Chemie. By W. Ostwald. Third Edition. 

 Pp. xvi. + 549, 57 figs. Leipzig: Engelmann, 1899. Price 16 marks, 

 bound 17-20 marks. 



This book, in its earlier editions, is well known, more particularly to the 

 younger generation of students of chemistry. The first edition appeared in 

 1889, but in the ten years that have passed between that date and the appear- 

 ance of this third edition, much new work has been done in the department of 

 physical chemistry, or general chemistry as our author calls it. It is not the 

 chemist alone who is indebted to Professor Ostwald for constituting himself the 

 chief exponent of the newer views and their numerous applications, as he has 



