SHORT ?rOTE3 J.I i 



clahning for him his share of the honour due for the execution of tliat 

 national work the Enfjlish Botany, has rather overshot the mark : 

 Mr. Sowerby was not the author of any part of the text of English 

 Hotany. The work owed its origin to the circumstance of Mr. Sowerby 

 having inade a number of sketches of plants, to be introduced in the 

 foregrounds of landscapes, which he was in the habit of painting from 

 nature. These sketches were shown to various botanical friends, at 

 whose suggestion the work was begun, with the valuable assistance of 

 Sir J. E. Smith ; and the only desci-iptions that wei-e not written by 

 that gentleman w^re supplied by the late Dr. Shaw [tt. 16-18]. In 

 addition to the praise due to Mr. Sowerby for the excellence of the 

 drawings and engravings in that work, some portion is due to him for 

 the spirit of enterprise in which he can'ied it on ; for, although he 

 had to depend upon portrait-p.iinting for the capital required, he still 

 industriously and steadily pursued his expensive project until it began 

 to remunei-ate him (which was not for several years), and he finally 

 brought Tip a numerous family to enjoy its profits and lament the loss 

 of one of the best of ])arents." 



REVIEW. 



The Bofani/ of Iceland: edited by L. Koldertjp Rosejstyttv'GE and 

 EuG. Warmixg. — Partll.: 3. Ernst Oestriip: Marine Diatoms 

 from tlie Coasts of Iceland (with one plate). 4. Aug. Hesseliso: 

 The Eryophyta of Iceland (with 89 figures in the text). 1918, 

 pp. 345-G77. Copenhagen : J. Frimodt. London : Whekion. 



Part I. of this woi-k appeared in 1914 and contained two 

 memoirs — the Marine Algal Vegetation, by Helgi Jonsson ; and the 

 Physical Geogi-aphy, by Th. Thoroddsen : part II. contains the 

 Marine Diatoms and the Bryophyta, and completes the first volume 

 of the work. 



The monograph of the Marine Diatoms is based on the gatherings 

 made by various collectors on the coasts of Iceland; the author, 

 Ei-nst Oestrup, tells us that this material consisted of 488 samples and 

 yielded upon examination 2U9 species and varieties, arranged in 42 

 genera. Seven new species and four new varieties are described, and 

 are all figured. The records are first presented in the form of a 

 systematic enumeration, with references, distribution, etc. ; and, 

 secondly, in alphabetical order in a tabular surve}', wherein is shown 

 the distribution of each diatom throughout the world, in Greenland 

 and the Arctic Ocean, and around the coasts of Iceland respectively. 

 Another table serves to show the frequency of occurrence of the 

 commoner species. The relation between the larger Algie and the 

 Diatoms is elaborated in other tables, where lists of Phodophycete, 

 Ph»ophyce:e and Chloropliycea; are given together with the Diatoms 

 that have been found to be characteristically associated with each 

 particular genus. 



The account of the"" Bryophyta has been prepared by Aug. Hesselbo 

 from his own collections and investigations, from those of Chr. Grihi- 

 lund made some fifty years ago, and from those of three Iceland 

 botanists — Olafur Davldsson, Stefan Stefansson, and Helgi donsson. 



