248 THE JOURNAL OF HOT ANT 



Wk are gUul to announce that, after an interval of six years, it 

 has been found possible to resume the publieatioi*. of Hooker s Icoiies 

 Flantarutn, of which the fourth part ot vol. i. (fiftli series) was 

 issued in June. Tliis is entirely the work of Dr. Stapf and contains 

 full descriptions and figures of grasses, largely from Tropical Africa, 

 which have already beon diagnosed by that author in the Flora of 

 Tropical Africa and elsewhei-v. Two new genera are established — 

 Dihrtfropoijon (t. ;iSU3), " sectio Fieslio AiulrojMH/onis in'oxhnus''' 

 and OififiiiSi'a (t. ;3100) for a plant which *' in the course of time has 

 become connected with no fewer than nine mostly widely different 

 genera — a veritable Odyssey, hence the name." The titlepage and 

 index to the volume are included in the part. AVe note that " the 

 impression of the Icones is limited to 250 copies, and the work will 

 not be reprinted.'' 



The thinl ^Lemolr issued by the Botanical Survey of South Africa 

 (Pretoria, 10>-. iSd.) is devoted to the South African Ci/peracece, and 

 mainly consists of notes on the genera. '* including an account of 

 tht)ir geographical distribution, the descriptions of the plates, the 

 South African material of the species illustrated, their geographical 

 distribution, and here and thei-e remarks on them." There are also 

 morphological and ecological notes and a selected bibliography. The 

 Mem«)ir is illustrated by eighty excellent plates, in which ai-e repre- 

 sented every genus mentioned in the Flora Vapensis and as far as 

 possible every section of the larger genera. The elucidation of new 

 species and genera is deferred for future publication ; the aim of the 

 present is "to give a nucleus of well-determined sjwcies by a number 

 of faithful illustrations." 



Messrs. Llzac have published (2*-. n.) a pamphlet on The Soma 

 Plant, by Braja Lai Mukhcrjee, M.A. "This plant," says the 

 author, "has been variously described in Ayurvedic woi'ks. but most of 

 tliem, if not all, seem to have drawn materials fi-om imagination, and 

 schoLirs who have attempted to identify this plant have based their 

 theories on a text which has not been traced.'' After a cai*eful 

 comparison of Vedic texts and other sources, Mr. Mukherjee concludes 

 that " the old identification of Soma with Asclepias aciJa, Sarco- 

 s tenia hrevistigma or as Ephedra ralf/aris or Peri pi oca aphi/lla 

 which was based on one only text quoted from an unknown ])Ost 

 Vedic author is not confirmed by Yaidic text, and we l)elieve that the 

 luueh-revered King Soma is no other than Cannabis saliva of modern 

 commerce." 



No. 8 of the Journal of the Botanical Society of South Africa 

 contains a paper by Mrs. L. Bolus on the Geraniacece of the region, 

 with a da vis to the genera and species and a plate showing tloral 

 details of each, Mrs. Bolus also reprints from an earlier number, now 

 out of print, papei-s on South African Heaths. 



The botanical sections of the Meniorias do Insfituto de Butantan 

 (vol.i. fasc.5), published in April, contains an account with descriptions 

 of the Melastomacete contained in various Brazilian herl)aria by F. C. 

 Hoehne. Many new species are describe:!, and there is a full list of 

 the specimens exanuned. 



