30-1 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



The very handsome series- of volumes entitled The Bradley 

 Bibliography — " a Guide to the Literature of the Woody Plants of 

 the World published before the beginning of the Twentieth Century : 

 compiled at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University under the 

 direction of Charles Sprao-iie Sargent by Alfred Kehder "■ — has been 

 completed by the publication of the fifth volume, which is devoted to 

 an index of avithors and titles and a subject index. Vols. i. and ii. 

 (1911-12) are devoted to Dendrology; vol. iii. (1915) to Arbori- 

 culture and the Economic Properties of Woody Plants; vol. iv. (1914), 

 to Forestry. The fact that they are printed at the Riverside Press, 

 Cambridge, Mass., is sufficient indication that they are in every way 

 admirably produced. 



The Journal of Genetics issued in August (vol. vii. n. 4) contains 

 papers by A. St, Clair Caporn on " The Inheritance of Tight and 

 Loose Paleae in Avena nuda Crosses," on " An Experiment to deter- 

 mine the Heredity of Early and Late Ripening in an Oat Cross " and 

 '* On a Case of Permanent Variation in the Glume Lengths of Ex- 

 tracted Parental Types and the Inheritance of Purple Colour in the 

 Cross Triticum polonicumx, T. elohoni''^ (with two plates). There is 

 also a " Report on Tests of Self- Sterility in Plums, Cherries, and 

 Apples," prepared by Ida Sutton. 



The Journal of the Linnean Society (Botany, xliv. no. 297 : 

 Sept. 12) contains a paper by Prof. Herdman on the distribution of 

 certain Diatoms and Copepoda thi'oughout the year, in the Irish Sea, 

 with numerous illustrations ; and the " Notes on Calamopitys " by 

 Dr. D. H. Scott, of which an abstract appeared in this Journal for 

 January (p. 29). 



That plant-names are often misapplied is generally known, at any 

 rate to botanists, but it is not often that one finds so striking an 

 instance as is furnished by Sir Herbert Warren in his preface to Good 

 Stories from Oxford and Camhridge, by Mr. Selby Henrey. These 

 stories largely partake of the nature of what are termed *' chestnuts," 

 and we had hoped that Sir Herbert would have thrown some light on 

 the modern application of the term : but he only says : " How the chest- 

 nut came to be the emblem of an old and good story seems uncertain : 

 the invention or application, like many others, apjiears to be trans- 

 atlantic." What he does make quite clear, however, is that he con- 

 siders the chestnut and the horse-chestnut identical ! He begins by 

 a description of the latter, and goes on to say": " The chestnut fruit 

 has many uses. Some are sweet and edible by nature, others hard 

 and indigestible. Boys fight with these ... it has lately been 

 discovered that it is valuable not only for peace but for war" ! This 

 is no place for examining Mr. Henrey's chestnuts, some of which have 

 been spoiled in his cooking ; but the confusion indicated above by a 

 man of Sir Herbert Warren's rank seems worth a note. 



We regret to record the death on Sept. 3, at the age of 86, of 

 James Eustace Bagnall, of whom some account will be given in 

 our next issue. 



