BOOK-XOTES, NEWS. ETC. 287 



be continually formed, and would, if retained, be deleterious to the 

 life of the plant. Dr. Loew supposes, therefore, that catalase may 

 render great service in catalysing the peroxide as soon as it is 

 formed. He found it, though not in large quantities, in the leaves 

 of herbarium specimens that had been collected in 1841. The 

 results of his investigation are published in Report No. 68 of the 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



The S. p. C. K. has issued a neat little half-crown volume on 

 Poisonous Plants in Field and Garden by the Rev. G. Henslow, the 

 utility of which is not obvious. The number of plants which are 

 practically a source of danger is extremely limited, and an illustrated 

 account of these might be useful ; but this volume includes a small 

 amount of information about a large number of species, with the 

 usual quotations from other authors, and a number of figures 

 which have already done duty in various works. It is systematically 

 arranged, but even the orders are not characterized : thus we are 

 told that our British LefjuininoscB "are easily known by the peculiar 

 form of the flower," but this is not described further than by saying 

 it has "an imaginary likeness to a butterfly." Many of the species 

 are undescribed, save by a phrase which would apply equally to 

 others: e.;/. the only information as to Oroba)icJie minor is that it 

 "is parasitic on clover and several other plants," which is equally 

 true of Ciiscuta. Why does Mr. Henslow say that the " Harebell of 

 Scotland" is Scilia nutans f It is certainly not the plant of the 

 " Lady of the Lake." 



The third Appendix to the non-existent Kew Bulletin for 1901 

 contains a list of the "new garden plants of the year 1900," with 

 a reference to the place of their publication. " These lists," we 

 are told in a prefatory note, " are indispensable to the maintenance 

 of a correct nomenclature," but this statement seems to need qualifi- 

 cation, as we are further told that " in every case the plant is cited 

 under its published name, although some of the names are doubt- 

 fully correct." The latter remark is certainly true : t^. </. the first 

 name upon which our eye fell was " Cham^lirion Carolinia," which 

 stands in the Index Keweiisis as ChauuBlirium carolinianuin. 



The death of Dr. Emil Bretschneider, which took place on or 

 about May 14, has deprived Chinese botany of one of its most assiduous 

 students. For thirty years he has devoted unremitting attention 

 to the investigation of its history ; his first essay. On the Study 

 and Value of Chinese Botanical Works, was published at Peking in 

 1870-1 ; and his last work, History of European Botanical Discoveries 

 in China, appeared in 1898. Of this important volume — a very 

 storehouse of information concerning the progress of botany in 

 China and the investigators who have contributed to our knowledge 

 thereof — an appreciation appeared in this Journal for 1899 (pp. 86- 

 88), in which also, in 1894 (pp. 292-298), was printed a paper from 

 his pen, "On Some Old Collections of Chinese Plants." Bret- 

 schneider's knowledge of plants, although he made some collections, 

 was mainly confined to those of pharmaceutical interest ; but he 

 has done much to render accessible to Europeans the information 

 contained in Chinese botanical works. 



