158 TTIE JOURX.VL OF BOTANY 



added a noteworthy contribution to the sum of useful human know- 

 ledge. With a view to increasing the productivity of the soil, and 

 particularly of poor land, he turned his attention to the investigation 

 of nitrogen -fixing organisms which would enable plants to obtain tlie 

 all essential nitrogen from the air by means of bacteria. Taking 

 peat as the basis for his experiments, he subjected it to a process of 

 decomposition, and found that as a result other bacteria w^ere pro- 

 duced and led to the growth of nitrogen-fixing organisms. A fact 

 established as a result of these experiments, and one which created no 

 little sensation in the scientific world at the time, was that just as 

 human beings and animals required vitamines, so in the case of plants 

 and vegetable crops accessory food bodies were required." 



Vol. IX. no 1 (issued Nov. 1921) of the Records of tlie Botanical 

 Purvey o-F India is devoted to a " Survey of the Flora of the Anai- 

 malai Hills in the Coimbatore District, Madras Presidency," by 

 C. E. C. Fischer, I.F.S. The list itself, which is very extravagantly 

 printed, contains little of note, a variety of Barleria cuspidata 

 presenting the only novelty ; there is, however, an interesting intro- 

 duction, in which tlie character of the flora is summarised, with an 

 excellent map. No. 2 of the volume contains descriptions (at great 

 length) of new Malayan E aphorbiaceai by Mr. A. T. Gage. In 

 vol. viii. Father Blatter's careful Flora Arabica is continued in no. 8 

 (Dec. 1921) ; the enumeration has proceeded as far as Verbenacese, 

 but, save for an occasional " comb, nov.," the part contains no 

 novelties. The fact that page-headings may be turned to useful 

 account has not penetrated to those responsible for the production of 

 the Records. 



The Trustees of the British Museum will shortly publish a 

 Guide to the Larger British Fungi which w411 rej^lace the Guide to 

 Sowerh/s Model's of British Fungi by the late Worthington G. 

 Smith. The new Guide, which has been prepared by Mr. J. Hams- 

 bottom, deals more fully with questions of general interest, and 

 includes a larger number of species than the previous one, and is 

 so arrano-ed that- it will form a useful introduction to the study of 

 the larger fungi. 



In the NewBhytoJogist (March 22 : vol. xxi. no. 1) Professor W. 

 Stiles continues his critical articles on Permeability, and Mr. W. J. Hod- 

 o-etts concludes his " Study of the Factors controlling the Periodicity 

 of Fresh-water Algae." Sir Francis Darwin has two papers, one 

 " Studies in Phcenology, No. 3, 1921," which shows that the most 

 obvious feature of the dates of flowering last year was their remark- 

 able earliness ; the second — in conjunction with another well-known 

 Cambridge botanist, Mr. A. Shrub'bs — on " Eecords of Autumnal or 

 Second Flowerings of Plants," gives further details of a remarkable 

 floristic year. The very healthy controversial articles for which this 

 periodical is becoming noteworthy are represented by Professor J. H. 

 Priestley's "Further Observations upon the Mechanism of Koot 

 Pressure." 



Science Frogrrss for April contains a long and interesting ])aper 

 on " Spitsbergen, its Natural History and Kesources," by Mr. Y. S. 



