A CATALOGUE OF BRITISH SCTENTIFTC EOOKS 50 



volume are of recent date, nor is George Murmy's useful Introduction 

 included. Lichens and Mycetozoa are entirely omitted. The entries 

 under " Flora " include such diverse works as Willis's Dictionarii of 

 Flowering Plants (surely "General"?), Eogers's British Buhi^ 

 Arber's Devonian Floras (Pal.), Mrs. Gregory's British Violets^ 

 II. T. Baker's Fines of Australia ; Dr. Druce's List of British 

 Plants appears but not the London Catalogue, and the same author's 

 Flora of BerJcshire, but not his Flora of Oxfordshire — the other 

 British Floras are those of Hampshire and Bristol ; Mr. Thompson's 

 Flora of the Biviera is given, but not his Alpine nor Sichalpine 

 Plants ; and we find nothing relating to the Swiss Flora. Colonial 

 Floras are well represented, but the Flora of Jamaica is omitted ; the 

 publications of the Department of Botany seem to be unknown to the 

 Committee, perhaps because, owing to their somewhat cryptic method 

 of publishing, the books issued by the British Museum do not find 

 their way into catalogues. The omissions are as remarkable as 

 the inclusions — Kerner and Oliver's History of Plants, Knuth's 

 Pollination, Scott's Fossil Botany, Warming's (Ecology, are only 

 examples which might readily be multiplied ; on the other hand, two 

 books by Margaret Plues and two by F. G. Heath find place. 



It would be easy to extend our criticisms, but enough has been 

 said to show that the object of the Catalogue, so far as Botany is 

 concerned, has not been achieved ; nor is this to be wondered at, for 

 we find no evidence that any botanist has taken part in its compila- 

 tion. This omission, which extends to other branches of biology, and 

 indeed to biology generally, is not easy to understand — there are 

 many who would willingly have cooperated in the work ; but it more 

 than suffices to account for the inadequacy of what might have been 

 an extremely useful book. 



A Bihliographic Fnumeration of Bornean Plants. By E. D. 

 Merrill, Botanist, Bureau of Science, and Professor of 

 Botany, University of the Philippines, 3Ianila, P. I. (Journal 

 Straits Branch Koyal Asiatic Society, Special Number, Sept., 

 1921). Svo, ])p. G37. Price «8.50. Raffles Museum, Singapore ; 

 London, W. Wesle3^ 



We have more than once had occasion to call attention to the 

 thoroughness which characterises Mr. Merrill's work, and his latest 

 output maintains the high standard of its predecessors. As in those, 

 so in this, Mr. Merrill shows that acquaintance with botany and 

 bibliography which is essential to a complete presentment of the flora 

 of a country ; in addition to this, he has the gift of summarising 

 his facts in a manner which is interesting as well as instructive ; of 

 this the introduction on the leading features of the Bornean flora, 

 prefixed to the Fnumeration, is an excellent example. 



The scope of the Fnumeration, which is limited to spermato- 

 phytes, is, as its title denotes, mainly bibliographical, but it includes, 

 in addition to a full synonymy, an indication of the general as well as 



