BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, ETC, . 63 



in sueli cases it is found that de.'lnite provision is made dm'ing- the 

 development of the fruit for tlae liberation of the seeds on germina- 

 tion from their stony envelope. In the case of JPrunus and similar 

 normally one-seeded fruits splitting apart of the two halves of the 

 endocarp takes place, hut in such 3-5-seeded fruits as Canariuin, 

 Sclerocarya, Dracontomelon, Saccoqlottis, Auhrya, etc., special 

 fenestriE or opercula are provided which are pushed away by the ger- 

 minating embr^^o. In David ia not only are special fenestra? removed 

 but also portions of the intervening skeletal structure of the endo- 

 carp. The remarkable fruit of Pleio(jynmm encloses several seeds 

 which germinate without any disintegration of the endocarp. 



On Jan. 7, a' special meeting of the same Society was summoned hy 

 circular to protest against the dismantling of the British Museum, 

 including the Natural History Museum, for use as Government 

 otRces. The following Resolutions, which had been approved by the 

 Council, Avere unanimously adopted : — 



" The Fellows of the Linnean Society of London in Meeting 

 assembled, desire to place upon record : — 



" Their profound astonishment and alarm at the reported intention 

 to dismantle the British Museum, including the Natural History 

 Museum, in order to use it for Government offices : their emphatic 

 protest at a procedure which must endanger priceless and irreplace- 

 able possessions acquired at gi*eat cost and infinite labour during the 

 last two hundred years, constituting the most splendid museum in exis- 

 tence and the recognised centre of systematic scientific research : their 

 dismay at a resolution which may paralyze scientific activities that 

 during the past three years have been devoted to work intimately 

 connected with the prosecution of the war ; and at the expenditure of 

 a large sum in adapting unsuitable buildings, whilst other and more 

 suitable accommodation might be provided at much less cost : and 

 finally to emphasize the disgrace which must accrue to the Nation in 

 the eyes of the world, by the evidence thus afforded of the inability 

 of the Government to appreciate the essential value to the Nation of 

 scientific assistance such as the British Museum has rendered and is 

 capable of rendering." 



At the meeting of the' same Societ}^ on Jan. 17 a paper on "Some 

 Early Cape J^otanists and Collectors " was read by Mr. Britten, who, 

 apologising for dealing with a subject which was biographical rather 

 than scientific, claiined as precedent a paper read by J. E. Smith on 

 "Some Norwich Jiotanists " in 1804 — by a curious coincidence on 

 the same day of the same month. Mr. Britten's remarks were mainly 

 confined to the collectors represented in the Sloane and Banksian 

 Herbaria now forming part of the National Collection in the Depart- 

 ment of Botany of the Natural History Museum. He pointed out 

 that these collections had been largely overlooked by writers on 

 South African botany, but that even now when inspected by mono- 

 graphers they were found to yield species hitherto undescribed. The 

 ])i'incipal collectors of Avliom and of whose plants details were given 

 were Paul Hermaini (1G10-1G9S) ; .Tames Cunningham, who in 1G99 



