BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, ETC. 343 



subject as other later and more heuristic works issued by the 

 same publishers. 



Mrs. Willis has done her part of the work most admirably, 

 substituting well-known Indian plants for many of those referred 

 to in the original, and adding descriptions of Natural Orders 

 cliaracteristic of India, and a useful index of vernacular names. 

 It would, however, have been better in this to distinguish 

 Dravidian and Hindi names. 



If we compare the book as a whole with Professor Daniel 

 Oliver's adaptation of his Elementary Lessons for Indian use, 

 published in 1869, we shall see the different standpoint of the 

 " New Botany," which forty-five years has brought about. 



In the next edition room might be found for a brief sketch of 

 the component parts and geographical relations of the Indian flora 

 and for the names of the leading district Floras. G. S. Boulger. 



BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, dc. 



At the meeting of the Linnean Society on November 5th, Mr. 

 A. D. Cotton explained the scope of his paper on the Algae, 

 Lichens, and Fungi of the West Falkland Islands, from Mrs. 

 Kupert Vallentin's collections, illustrated with specimens, draw- 

 ings, and lantern-slides. He explained that a large collection had 

 been made by Mrs. Vallentin from 1909 to 1911, and had been 

 presented by her to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew ; the 

 present paper dealt with those cryptogams mentioned in the 

 title, the Mosses and Hepaticae being reserved for later work. 

 These collections are valuable and have yielded interesting results, 

 including several novelties, and many additions to the flora, and 

 by means of ample, well-dried material, enabled previous descrip- 

 tions to be enlarged and revised. The author gave an historical 

 account of the cellular Cryptogams from the eaidiest record (1771) 

 to the present time, and included in his list all previous records, 

 revised so far as practicable. As regards the Fungi, spirit 

 material and coloured drawings give, for the first time, a clear 

 idea of the terrestrial fungus-flora. The genera are the same as 

 those of Europe, and several of the common pasture species of 

 England occur, such as the common Mushroom, giant Puff"-ball, 

 several Agarics, and the well-known Cordyccps militaris. Thirty- 

 six species, including five novelties, are enumerated. Fruticulose 

 and foliaceous Lichens were abundant and luxuriant in West 

 Falkland, and in this respect the flora is in contrast with that of 

 Kerguelen. There are several additions to previous lists. All 

 the groups of Algae flourish luxuriantly ; the Eeds and Browns 

 being particularly large and fine. A considerable amount has 

 been done in this section, twenty-eight names have been added, 

 including three novelties, and seventeen have been removed as 

 wrong records or synonyms. The distribution of the component 

 parts of the flora was then described, with comparison of the 

 Kerguelen lists, New Zealand, the sub-Antarctic zone, and the 

 Antarctic region proper, the latter regarded as all south of 60^ S. 



