160 THE JOUKT!fAL OF UOTANY 



species, 1S2G-64 ; the treatment of tlie genus in De Candolle's Pro- 

 (Iromus; the history of tlie African species (1707-11)12), of the 

 Indian species (18G9-19UG), and of the Oriental species (1879- 

 1915); the species in Engler's PJlanzeitreich; concluding with a 

 systematic synopsis, in which eleven species with numerous varieties 

 are described at length, with the fullest s^aionymy, geographical dis- 

 tribution, etc. The monograph is in every way a perfect example of 

 what such things should be : the only possible improvement would be 

 the addition of an index and table of contents, neither of which 

 would add greatlj'' to the space occupied ; the utilization of page- 

 headings, to which we referred last year (Journ. Bot. 1917, 289), 

 would have rendered the paper moi'e readily consultable. Grovernment 

 departments are sometimes accused of giving insufficient support to 

 science : Sir David Prain is to be congratulated on having, in these 

 days of paper shortage, secured from the Stationery Office a pamphlet 

 of a hundred pages issued to the public at the nominal cost of 

 fivepence. 



The New Pliytol agist for January and February (published 

 March 11) contains, under the heading "The Examination of a 

 AVitness," an amusing and acute criticism of the paper on " The 

 Keconstruction of Elementary Botanical Teaching," published in the 

 same periodical for December last over the names of five botanists 

 referred to by the anonymous critic as " The Five Wise Men." 

 Mr. James Small continues his essay on "The Origin and Develop- 

 ment of the Conqwsitce,'''' and Mr. J. W. Hornby describes and 

 figures Endoderma Cladopliorce — a new fresh-water alga epiphytic 

 on Cladopliora (jJomerata from a well in Sutton Park, Warwickshire. 



Dr. F. E. Weiss sends us a i-eprint, from the Annual Report 

 of the Manchester Mici-oscopical Society, 191G, of his Presidential 

 Address (delivered Feb. 8, 1917) on " Seeds and Seedlings of Orchids," 

 which deals with the dependence of Orchid seeds for their germination 

 upon the intervention of a fungus. 



During his stay in England in 1914-15, Mr. S. F. Blake made an 

 exhaustive study of the Clayton Herbarium, now incorporated in the 

 National Herbarium. As is well known, Clayton's collection forms 

 the basis of Gronovius's Flora Virginica (ed. 1, 1739-43 ; ed. 2, 

 1763), and incidentally of the North- American plants described by 

 Linna3us in the Species Plantartim, to whom Gronovius sent specimens 

 from Clayton. Although Clayton's plants have frequentl}^ been con- 

 sulted by American and other workers, no systematic examination of 

 the whole collection has hitherto been made ; and Mr. Blake is now 

 publishing in Rliodora the results of his investigations. We shall 

 probably refer again to these when the series is completed. 



An appeal has been issued for funds to perpetuate the memoiy of 

 the late Ethel Sargent's connection with Girton ('ollege by creating a 

 Glrton Fellowship for original work in Natiu-al Science and especially 

 in Botany. Subscriptions may be sent to Miss E. Lawder, 25 Halifax 

 Koad, Cambridge. 



