BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, ETC. 436 



the seed, eventually bringing out the petioles of the cotyledons and 

 the axis of the plantlet. The radicle grows in a carrot-shaped 

 woody body, from which the petioles of the cotyledons disarticulate, 

 leaving a few minute rudimentary leaves forming the point of the 

 plumule. iVfter some weeks, the second stage begins with the 

 elongation of the plumule, which eventually becomes the trunk of 

 the tree. It appears that the second stage may be delayed a con- 

 siderable time without loss of vitality. The germination of the 

 seeds of Antucaria Bidivillii had been previously observed, and the 

 process has been described and illustrated in Kegel's Gartrnjiora, 

 1865, p. 103; but the two stages of growth escaped notice. Another 

 peculiarity is there pointed out : each seed contained two or more 

 embryos, which germinated and grew, so that one hundred and 

 sixty-four plants were raised from seventy-five seeds. 



We have received the three first numbers of the Bnlletin tin 

 Javdln Imperial botaniqiie de St. Vctersbounj, in which it is intended 

 to publish original papers in all branches of botany, as well as com- 

 munications relating to or emanating from the Garden itself; it is 

 edited by Dr. A. Fischer von Waldheim. The contributions in the 

 numbers before us deal principally with lichens and fungi, and are 

 in the Russian tongue ; both typography and plates are excellent. 

 We would suggest that each number should contain the date of its 

 publication. 



Sir George King is continuing in the Journal of the Asiatic 

 Society of Bengal his important publication " Materials for a Flora 

 of the Malayan Peninsula." The last instalment deals principally 

 with EiKjenia, of which 96 species, many of them new, are described. 



In a paper read lately by Mr. H. Stuart Thompson before the 

 Scientific Society of the Midland Institute, Birmingham, it was 

 proposed to form a "Midland Herbarium " to be kept in Birmingham. 

 In the course of his paper Mr. Thompson gave some interesting 

 facts concerning the vegetation which appeared on the dry bed of 

 Rotton Park Reservoir after the droughts of 1893, 1900, and the 

 present year. He called attention to the flora of a little copse near 

 Harborne containing marshy pools which are being filled with 

 refuse by the Birmingham City Council, who rent the land as a 

 "tip." It appears that this piece of waste land, only four miles 

 from the centre of Birmingham, is the home of many and scarce 

 plants ; Mr. Thompson showed dried specimens, including some 

 rare sedges, which he had gathered at Harborne. He had done 

 his best to try and prevent the continuance of the tipping of 

 rubbish, but feared it was one of the sad but inevitable consequences 

 of the extension of our big cities. 



Prof. John Percival, of the South-Eastern Agricultural College, 

 Wye, Kent, proposes to issue a limited number of fascicles of speci- 

 men ears of the chief European varieties of the cereals Wheat, 

 Barley, Oats, and Rye. Over two hundred varieties will be repre- 

 sented, and it is hoped that the sets may be found useful for 

 educational purposes, and at the same time be valuable as a record 

 of the varieties of cereals most commonly grown in Europe at the 



