382 BOTANICAL NEWS. 



memoirs in botany, the President's revision of the genus Cassia, and 

 Dr. MasUrs's account of the Passijloracea. Mr. Benthani's paper, 

 which was read to the Society more than two and a half years ago, gives 

 descrijjtion' of no less than 338 species of Cassia, in spite of the reduc- 

 tiou of a large number of names to synonyms. These are distributed 

 under three subgenera well distinguished by their anthers and pods, 

 Fistula, Snnia, and Lnsiorhcf/ma. There is a large instalment of new 

 species, chiefly Brazilian. A very useful appendix — to be imitated, we 

 hope, by all monographers — consists of lists of the Cassias in the chief 

 published >els of plants, with references to their numbers. A sketch of the 

 distribution of the genus over the globe, viewed from the Darwinian 

 stand-point, is prefixed. Dr. Masters's paper is less occupied with 

 technical (i( scriptions of species. The author has worked up the African 

 and Ameiican species (the great bulk of the Order) for the second 

 volume of the ' Flora of Tropical Africa,' just published, and the ' Flora 

 Brasilieiisis.' Some additional ones are given in the present memoir. 

 In our report of the reading of the paper (p. 24), we shortly alluded to 

 the author's views as to the affinities of the Natural Order, which corre- 

 sponds to the tribe Passiporere of the 'Genera Plantarum.' A complete 

 catalogue of the genera (11) and species (225) of the group is given, but 

 the paper is mainly composed of an account of the organography, mor- 

 phology, and affinities of Passion-flowers, with interesting notes on their 

 fertilization and distribution. 



In ' Gardeners' Chronicle' for October 21 is a woodcut and description 

 by Mr. Baker of an interesting new Saxifrage, of the Dactyloides group, 

 called S. Maweana. It was discovered by Mr. George Maw, in tiie 

 neighbourhood of Tetuan, two years ago, and introduced by him in a 

 liviuj)- state to England, and was gathered again this year by that 

 gentleuiati, in company with Dr. Hooker and Mr. Ball. It has flowers 

 as large as S. granulate, and copious buds in the axils of the leaves, 

 which are three-lobed only about halfway down. If it prove quite 

 hardy, it is likely, from its fine flowers, to become a great favourite for 

 rockwork. 



On August 31st the Worcester Naturalists' Club made an excursion 

 to Broadwas, and visited Knightwick. Near the church stands an Oak 

 with Mistletoe growing on it, the only one known in Woi'cestershire, and 

 making the thirteenth in England. The tree is of moderate size, and 

 probably not more than one hunch'ed years old. 



At a meeting of the Winchester and Hampshire Scientific Society on 

 October 16th, the President, Rev. C. A. Johns, exhibited a specimen of 

 Monzima polifolia, gathered by a lady at Bitterne, near Southampton. 

 Mr. Johns had seen the plant growing, but did not venture to pronounce 

 it indigenous on the waste ground where it occurred. 



The third fasciculus of the Rev. J. E. Leefe's ' Salictura Exsiccatum' is 

 all but completed, and the author is preparing the fourth fascicle. 



We hear, through the 'Gardeners' Chronicle,' that Dr. Hooker has 

 placed the Lichens collected during his Morocco expedition in the hands 

 of the Rev. W. A. Leighton, for examination and determination. 



The publication is announced of a new periodical devoted to Hor- 



