BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, ETC. 191 



The Country Month by Month, in which Mrs. Owen (better 

 known as the editor of " A Son of the Marshes ") and Mr. 

 G. S. Boulger combined " to try and give a practical direction to 

 lovers of Nature in their observations by teUing them of the sights 

 they may expect to find, month by month, in their country 

 wanderings," has now been reissued in a handsome voUime of 

 500 pages, whicli is rendered attractive by the addition of twelve 

 coloured plates and twenty illustrations from photographs. The 

 names of the authors are sufficient guarantee that the slipshoddity 

 which still characterizes too many "popular" works is absent 

 from this, and we know of no better book for the dweller in the 

 country who wants to know something about the birds, plants and 

 insects — the first dealt with by Mrs. Owen, the others by Mr. 

 Boulger — which he may meet with on his walks. The book, 

 which costs 6s. net, is published by Messrs. Duckworth, who still 

 follow the practice, which we hoped had become obsolete, of dis- 

 figuring the titlepages of their " review " copies with an ugly 

 rubber stamp in violet ink. 



At the meeting of the Linnean Society on June 18th, a paper 

 by the late Mr. William West, "Ecological Notes, chiefly Crypto- 

 gamic," was read in abstract by Dr. Stapf, who remarked that 

 this paper was the outcome of a suggestion by Prof. Engler, that 

 whilst abundance of observations existed of ecological facts 

 regarding phanerogams, the cryptogams had been neglected. 

 This paper, intended as the first of a series, deals chiefly with the 

 corticolous associations of epiphytes. A very large number of 

 observations were detailed, and an approximate percentage 

 estimate of the chief epiphytes was given. Stereodon cupressi- 

 formis var. filiformis is found to be the most prevalent epiphytic 

 moss generally ; but in some localities, especially those with a 

 very heavy rainfall, Isothecium myosuroides becomes the most 

 abundant, especially on the lower part of the trunks. Parmelia 

 saxatilis is the most abundant epiphytic lichen : P. physodes 

 sometimes becomes dominant in exposed and wind-swept places. 

 Lecanora tartarea and Platysma glaucum attain dominance some- 

 times in places subject to frequent montane storms. Fndlania 

 dilatata is probably the most frequent epiphyte among the 

 Hepatics, but Metzgeria furcata is now and then the most abun- 

 dant. From the detailed tables given of epiphytes, which only 

 represent portions of the district examined, and are not given as 

 what may be expected in every locality, the percentage comes 

 out: — Stereodon cupressiforniis 16, Parmelia saxatilis 6, Isothe- 

 cium myosuroides 2, Frullania dilatata 2, Parmelia fuliginosa vsiv. 

 Icetevirens 2, Lecanora tartarea 2, Platysma glaucum 1, and various 

 species of Pertusaria 1. The observations extend over parts of 

 Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and the Lake District. 



The following British botanists will attend the forthcoming 

 meeting of the British Association in AustraHa : — Prof. F. 0. 

 Bower, President of the Botanical Section ; Prof. A. C. Seward, 

 Vice-President ; Misses M. Benson, E. M. Berridge, L. J. Clarke, 



