312 NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



ultimate |)nrts disseminated; in Dnipes, the -stones ; in Scliizocavps, the 

 mei'icdrps ox joints ; and in Aclienes, the fruits as wholes. As relVactory 

 exceptions, however, may be mentioned those cases where the seed, minus 

 its testa, is the part ultimately disseminated ; for example — in Oxalis 

 where, on dehiscence of the capsule, the elastic testa becomes ruptured, 

 violently expelling the body of the seed with the tegmen ; or in the 

 so-called drupaceous seeds {e. ff. in P/inica), which are doubtless devoured 

 by birds ; and, after digestion of the pulpy testa, the body of the seed, 

 will) the hard tegnien, is evacuated, and dissemination occurs. Or, again, 

 such a drupe as the Apple, where the induriition of the endocarp is slight, 

 we have the fruit behaving as a berry, and dissemination taking place by 

 means of the seeds. 



Some botanists may, perhaps, be surprised to note the omission of the 

 terms Siliqua and Silicnla, so universally employed to designate the fruits 

 of CruciferfB. A little reflection, however, is sufficient to make it evident 

 that, if distinctions so triHing in character as those which separate these 

 fruits from other valvular capsules were co;isistently carried out in practice, 

 the terminology would become altogether intolerable. A similar argu- 

 ment may be adduced in favour of the suggestion made in the foregoing 

 table, as to the propriety of devising some common term which will 

 supersede those of Follicle and Letjiiine. 



^eto |)ubIrcati;ons. 



Handbook of British Fungi ; with full Dt^scriptions of all the Species, and 

 Illustrations of the Genera. By M. C. CooKE, M.A. London and 

 New York. MacmiUan and Co.' 1871. Pp. 981 ; Figs. 408. 



Since the publication of the fifth volume of the ' English Flora' in 1836 

 — the work of the Uev. M. J. Berkeley, which comprehended all the species 

 that had been discovered in this country up to that time, and in which 

 the characters, together with synonyms and references to figures, were of 

 the most complete kind, — little lias been done, in a systematic wav to 

 enable botanists of moderate means to pursue the study of mycoloo-y. 

 Without access to libraries such as that of Kew or the British Museum, 

 a considerable outlay has been necessary to obtain the books containiuo- 

 the requisite information ; many of these are very scarce, and the subjects 

 treated of ordy in detached papers in the transactions of the learned socie- 

 ties of our own or other countries, and therefore inaccessible to the o-eue- 

 rality of students. The only work comprising all the species indigenous 

 to Great Britain that has appeared since tiiat time, viz. the ' Outlines of 

 British Kungology,' by the author of the first-named work, was published 

 in 1860, but it was so restricted by the publishers as to be of service 

 only to those who possessed the works of Fries and other writers, so far 

 as the more minute forms are concerned, since it contained specific cha- 

 racters of the larger species only, with short descriptions of the fiimilies, 

 orders, and genera, accompanied by a list of the remaining species. 

 During the eleven years that have elapsed since that period, numerous 

 additions have been made to our Flora by a constantly increasing number 

 of observers. It is therefore with great satisfaction that we can now an- 



