224 BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, ETC. 



marckiana ' (1 pi.). — A. v. Degen, ' Ueber Saxifraya pseudosancta & 

 S.jimipenna.' — E. van Halacsy, ' Zur Flora von Grieclienland.' — 

 J. Dorfler, Asplenium Baiimgartneri (1 pL). 



BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, dc. 



The first instalment of Die Pfiamenwelt Ost-Afrikas, edited by 

 Prof. Engler. includes four sheets of Part ii., on the economic 

 plants, and sis of Part iii., an enumeration of all plants yet known 

 from "East Africa." On page 3 of the latter Prof. Engler tells us 

 what is included in this rather vague geographical term. It is not 

 confined to the German sphere of influence, as at present under- 

 stood, but iucludes the following districts : — Zanzibar, Mossam- 

 bique, TJsagara-Usambara, the Masai Steppes and Highlands, 

 Kilimandjaro, the Lakes district, Nyasa-land, and the Zambesi 

 district. In the economic portion Dr. War])urg gives an account 

 of the few useful Palms occurring in the district, and Prof. Schu- 

 mann follows with the commencement of a similar account of the 

 Grasses. The latter also contains matter of interest to the 

 systematist, as on p. 65 the author establishes half a dozen 

 varieties of Panicum spicatum subsp. WiUdenowii. Illustrations 

 have been borrowed from Engler & Prantl's PfianzenfamUien ; 

 they are few in number, considering the popular interest that the 

 work is assumed to have. The arrangement adopted in the purely 

 systematic portion is that of the work just mentioned. In this first 

 instalment the Cryptogams are dealt with, the last five pages in- 

 cluding the Gymnosperms and beginning the Monocotyledons. 



Judging from these five pages, which are all we have been able 

 to examine, the execution of the work leaves something to be 

 desired. Seeing that these form the conclusion of the part, which 

 was not issued before the middle of June, it is not easy to account 

 for the omission of the three new species of Pant/«M!<.s published 

 by Mr. Eendle in this Journal for Nov. 1894, 'or of his three new 

 Lagarosiphons which appeared in the Linnean Society's Journal 

 issued at the beginning of February last. As only one species of 

 Pimdanus and two of Lagarosiphon are named in Prof, Engler's 

 work, it is manifest that the enumeration is by no means complete. 

 The proofs seem to have been carelessly read — we note Podocarpus 

 "milam/iana" and Potamogeton "lucers" (P. crispiis must be added 

 to the list, as Mr. Bennett has shown*) : and although Prof. Engler 

 may think it desirable to transfer Widdringtonia Whytei to Callitris, 

 he is not entitled to cite it as "Callitris Whytei Eendle." 



The Botanical Department of the British Museum has recently 

 acquired an interesting transcript of Sir Joseph Banks's Journal of 

 his voyage to Newfoundland and Labrador (April 7 -Nov. 17, 1766), 

 made by his sister, Sarah Sophia Banks, in 1772. The original 

 MS. is not known to exist, but the list of plants referred to in the 

 transcript is in the Botanical Department. 



* Jotim. Bot. 1895, 137. 



