366 HOTANIOAL NKWS. 



some certainty. The author exphiined ihe additions which the series made to 

 our knowledge of the Coal flora, especially in the genera Calamiles, Lppklo- 

 dendron, and Flahellaria. 



'gotumtal ITctos. 



By the deatli of Dr. F. J. Euprecht, in Aiigust last, the Directorship of the 

 Botanical Museum of the St. Petersburg Academy became vacant. It has 

 been conferred on C. J. Maximowicz. Dr. Ruprecht was the author of a 

 'Flora Ingrica,' and of several works on Graminece and Cryptogams. The first 

 part of his ' Flora Caucasi ' appeared last year. 



Among new booJss, we have to especially notice the fifth volume of Bent- 

 ham's ' Flora Australiensis,' carrying down the enumeration to the end of the 

 Proteaeeee, which great family occupies nearly half the volume ; the third part 

 (which completes the book) of V/atson's ' Compendium of the Cybele Britan- 

 nica;' and Dr. Weddell's ' Notes sur les Quinquinas,' containing a complete 

 list of species and varieties of the genus Chinchona. 



We learn from a well-known botanist who has visited Strasbourg since its 

 change of masters, that the accounts of the destruction there are too well 

 founded. The library and museum are entirely destroyed, and the botanic 

 garden has been used as a cemetery. It is believed that Schimper, the paleon- 

 tologist and botanist, left the city before the siege, but the fate of his collec- 

 tions is not yet known. 



Professor Balfour, of the University of Edinburgh, has just published the 

 statistics of his class for 1870. The number of pupils was 283 (probably 

 the largest class of botany on record), and of these 240 were medical, 12 phar- 

 maceutical, and 31 general students. 64 lectures were delivered, 35 practical 

 and 32 histological demonstrations given, and 10 excursions made. The 

 number of students who attended the excui'sions was 225, and the number at 

 each excursion varied from 26 to 130. Six of the medi-cal students were 

 ladies, and we are glad to see tliat all of them get a place among the 38 of the 

 honours list, their positions being 3, 5, 12, 24, 30, 33 ; No. 3 also obtained a 

 special prize for a series of ilried specimens illustrating the forms of definite in- 

 florescence. In addition. Professor Balfour gave a separate course of 40 lec- 

 tures to ladies, which was attended by over 30, of whom 23 underwent an exa- 

 mination at the end of the term, the result of which showed a high degi-ee of 

 pi'oficiency. 



At a meeting of the Perthshire Society of Natural Science, held on Oct. 7th, 

 a paper was read by Mr. Sadler, Edinburgh, entitled " Contributions to the 

 Flora of Perthshire." After the meeting the members adjourned totheMon- 

 crieffe Arms Hotel, where supper was prepared, consisting of different species 

 of Fungi, cooked in various manners. The dishes most relished were Boletus 

 edulis, Coprhms comatus, and Jgariew camj^cstris- 



We learn, from a rejiort in a local paper of a recent meeting of tlie Norfolk 



