NOTICES OF SERIALS. 23 



consistent with each other, but no owe, as far as my knowledge extends, is con- 

 sistent with himself. It is difficult to believe or understand the trouble which this 

 diversity of practice gives to an editor, more especially should it so fall out that 

 his contributor, having steadfast faith in his own critical sagacity, demands to see a 

 proof ; for then the said contributor, being in absolute command of a ship that has no 

 rudder, and purring complacently over the unwonted authority he is enjoying, is sure 

 to assume the printer to be in error, and incontinently to alter every small letter to a 

 capital, and every capital letter to a small one. It is with a view to relieve ento- 

 mologists of this critical labour that I suggest this simple rule As all specific 

 names must be substantives or adjectives, let every substantive (nominative or 

 genitive), and no adjective, have an initial capital. One exception only occurs to 

 me, but exceptio constat regulam ; it is when a man's name is converted into an 

 adjective, as Mitterbacheriana or Abildgaardana I don't much envy these insects 

 or their godfathers then the capitals must, of course, be preserved as signboards to 

 testify to future generations that it is mortal men have been thus immortalized ; 

 otherwise, the cui bono of these ponderous monuments of genius, like that of their 

 fellows on Salisbury Plain, must greviously puzzle philosophers yet unborn." 

 (W. T. Bree) Gonepteryx Rhamni, double-brooded ; (H. G. Atkinson) Capture of 

 Gastropacha ilicifolia on Cannoch Chase ; (W. Machin) Occurrence of Notodonta 

 carmelita in Kent. 



HOOKER'S JOURNAL OF BOTANY, AND KEW GARDEN MISCELLANY. No. 75, 



April; No. 76, May; No. 77, June, 1855. 8vo. London: Lovell Reeve. 

 Price 2s. each, with a Plate. 



No. 75, April : (Sir W. J. Hooker, &c., &c.) Kew Garden Museum, or an 

 Account of the Origin, and some of the Contents, of the Museum of Economic 

 Botany attached to the Royal Gardens at Kew continued from vol. vi., p. 26. 

 This account of the contents of the Economic Museum, Kew, is most interesting. 

 We hope to see it, when complete, reprinted in a separate form. Besides the 

 mere names of the specimens in the Museum, we have short accounts of their 

 properties, habitats, and the manner that is adopted in procuring the various pro- 

 ducts which render the plant valuable in an eco^mic point of view. This adds 

 very much to the interest, as well as the value, of the catalogue. Under the head 

 of Ord. Cistacea?, Cistus Family, we find the following account of how the resin 

 called Labdanum is procured: "Seven or eight conn try-fellows, ^in the heat of 

 the day, when not a breath of wind is stirring, in their shirts and drawers, brush 

 the plants with whips, the straps whereof, by rubbing against the leaves, lick off a 

 sort of odoriferous glue, sticking to the foliage ; this is part of the nutritious juice of 

 the plant, which exudes in shining drops, clear as turpentine. When the whips 

 are sufficiently laden with this grease, they take a knife and scrape the straps clean, 

 making it up into a mass, or cakes of different size. A man who is diligent will 

 gather 3 Ibs. per day, or more, which sells for a crown on the spot. The work is 

 rather unpleasant than laborious ; because it must be done in the sultry heat of the 

 day, and during the most dead calm. About 50 cwt. of it are annually collected 

 in Crete, and sent exclusively to Constantinople.'' We would suggest that a MS. 

 catalogue, on this principle, should be kept at the Museum of Economic Botany 

 attached to the Botanical Gardens of the Royal Dublin Society. (C. F. Meisner) 

 New Proteaceee of Australia continued from page 78 ; (Drs. Hooker and 



