NEW PUBLICATIONS. 12') 



make tlicir appearance on the settinf? in of tlie wet season, as they do 

 in other countries with a similar climate. There is a scarcity of 

 Melaslom,acea>, TiUacea;, Oemeracene, Solanacers, XJrlicacefn^ Bcjjonia- 

 cerB, Aroidea:^ anil Anpidle/s ; and also a great scarcity of annual plants, 

 and of so-called " weeds " beyond Port Blair. Indeed, Mr. Kurz's 

 observations bear out one of the dogmas advanced in these pages 

 (1867, p. 197), that virgin lands have no weeds. "All the weeds 

 enumerated in my list," says the author, "are evidently of late intro- 

 duction, and therefore cannot be treated as elements of a flora." The 

 number of Phanerogams noticed in his Eeport is 520 species, which is 

 confessedly a mere approximation to the actual number existing in the 

 islands. Cryptogams are only generally treated here (except Ferns), 

 as they cannot t)e accurately determined in India ; but their present 

 known number is about 34.5, — Eqidsetaceee, Characeoi, Hydro pier ide-i, 

 and RicciucefB, having not yet been found. The Report concludes with 

 a list of all known Andaman plants, to which localities have been 

 added.* The whoh; publieation is an extremely useful preliminary to- 

 wards a eom])let(; Flora of this singular group. 



There are two points about wiiich we still re([uirc information, ami 

 we should be glad if Mr. Kurz could supply it. What vegetable food 

 do the aborigines (who are held to lie of Papuan race, and have out- 

 riggers to their canoes, not like the Malays, but like the Fijians) inakc 

 use of? and is it true that they do ncd cultivate; any kind of fruit, root, 

 or vejretable ? 



Kryptogamen-Flora von Sdchficu, der (Jher- FmuhUz, Thiirhujan uud Nord- 

 hijltmen, mit Berunksicldigtmg der hennchharten Lauder. Zwcite 

 Abtheilung. Erste Halfte (Hogen 1-12). Die Flechten. JJear- 

 beitet von Dr. L. Rabenhoust. Leipzig: 1869. 



This forms the second part of Dr. Ral)enhorst's work on the Cryptoga- 

 mic Flora of the above districts of South Germany, the first part of 

 which was noticed in this Journal, Vol. I. p. 218. Like every other 

 treatise on Cryptogams written by the distinguished author, it is 



* In tills li.st, tlic aiitlior renames Roxburgh's Panax pahnatum, Brassaiopsis 

 pnlmatu, Kurz ; but unless it can be shown to be different from Iledura 

 Jtlainla (published 1828), the plant must retain the name oi Brannaiupsis llainla, 

 Hcein. 



