BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, ETC. 191 



the country, with the exception of Equisetum, Lycopodiiim, Isoetes, 

 and Selafjinella, an adequate census of which has not yet been 

 made. i)r. Christ's contribution is divisible into three portions — a 

 lengtliy introduction, a handy key to the genera and sptcies, aud a 

 systematic arrangement of the phiuts. In this last we tind 23 

 gener.i, 53 species, 119 varieties and subvarieties, some 19 hybrids, 

 and 25 sports — a precision of treatment which mdicates the exhaus- 

 tive manner iu whicli tlie author has dischar^'ed his task. Inter- 

 spersed are plenty of critical notes and records of the distribution 

 at home and abroad. The introduction atibrds much attractive 

 reading on such matters as the existing collections of dried ferns 

 in Switzerland and the published literature ; the variation and 

 hybridization of the species ; the iufluence of locality, soil, and 

 altitude; plant-associations, geographical distribution, and so forth. 



William Hodgson, who died at Workington, Cumberland, on 

 March 27, was born at Raughtonhead Hill, near Dalstou, in the 

 same county, on April 7, 1824. At the age of seventeen he became 

 parish schoolmaster at Watermillock, and later tilled with much 

 success a similar post at Aspatria. He was active in local politics 

 in the Liberal interest, and in other ways was a useful member of 

 the community. From a very early period Hodgson was interested 

 in botany, and, largely owing to the encouragement of Mr. J. G. 

 Baker, published in 1898 a Flora of Cumbedand, which was noticed 

 at some length in this Journal for 1899 (pp. 184-6). At the time 

 of his death he was engaged on an account of Cumberland plants 

 for the "Victoria History " of the Enghsh counties. He was elected 

 an Associate of the Linnean Society in 1884. 



Dr. Peter Cormack Sutherland, who was prematurely included 

 in the Biographical List of BritisJi Botanists, died at Durban, Natal, 

 on the 30th of last November. He was born at Latheron, Caith- 

 ness, in 1822, and graduated at Aberdeen in his twenty-fifth year. 

 In 1850-1 he went on the expedition in search of Franklin, and 

 published a Journal of his voyage in 1852. In 1853 he went to 

 the colony of Natal, where he shortly became Government Geolo- 

 gist and (in 1855) Surveyor-General, a post which he held until his 

 retirement in 1887. In Harvey's Flora Capensis he is mentioned 

 as having sent " small but carefully selected collections made in 

 various parts of his district during hasty professional visits ; in one 

 of which expeditions he discovered Greijia Sutherlandi, one of the 

 most remarkable of South-east African shrubs." According to the 

 Gardeners' Chronicle, in which a fuller account of Sutherland is 

 given, he "■ had the honour of initiating into the ways and customs 

 of South African life " Mr. Cecil Rhodes, who resided with him for 

 several months iu 1871, "before entering upon his great mission 

 in life." Sutherland does not seem to have done any botany after this. 



We take the following notice of Mr. Arthur Coppen Jones, who 

 died at Davos Platz on March 8th, from the British Medical 

 Journal for March 30 (p. 806) :— 



" Mr. Coppen Jones was born in London thirty-five years ago. 

 He studied at the Royal School of Mines, where he won the Forbes 

 prize. He had been intended for a life of pure science, and he 



