56 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



ference in 1918 that a centra] organization should he established for 

 the encouragement and co-ordination of work throughout the Empire 

 on the diseases of plants, caused hy fungi, in relation to agriculture," 

 The committee of management consists of the leading biologists of 

 the country, of whom a list is given in the Gardeners' Chronicle 

 for Jan. 1, from which the above information is taken. The Director 

 is Dr. E. J. Butler, formerly Cryptogamic Botanist to the Indian 

 Government, to which in May last year he became Agricultural 

 Adviser. 



At a time like the present, when there is so much to make up in 

 the way of important publications which were delayed by the War, 

 while the hindrances presented by the cost of printing show little 

 prospect of removal, the fourth volume of the Recueil de V Instil ut 

 Botanique Leo Errera issued by the University of Brussels seems 

 to demand a protest. The volume contains nearly 700 pages and 

 costs 50 francs ; it consists entirely of reprints of papers, most of 

 them of no special importance and some already obsolete, contributed 

 by Errera and other authors to various journals at dates ranging from 

 1886 to 1899. No reason for its production is given, and in default 

 of such explanation its publication seems unnecessary. 



Mr. Oakes Ames has published a handsome volume, beautifully 

 printed and admirably illustrated, a sixth fascicle of his Illustrations 

 and Studies of the Orchidacece (Boston, Merrvmount Press). It 

 contains an account of "the Orchids of Mount Kinabalu (Borneo)," 

 by Charles Schweinfurth and Oakes Ames ; the latter also gives 

 a continuation of his " Notes on Philippine Orchids." A new genus, 

 Philippincea Schlecter and Ames, "the only endemic orchid genus 

 of the Philippine Islands," is established for the plant previousby 

 described as Adenostylis Wenzelii. 



In Notes from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh (no. lxi ; 

 dated Sept. 1920), Professor Bayley Balfour continues to describe 

 new species of Rhododendron, mostly from China, whence the supply 

 of novelties seems inexhaustible ; seventy species are here named and 

 described. Of Primula, which in the way of novelties runs Rhodo- 

 dendron close, Prof. Balfour describes from the same regions fifty- 

 five novelties, with three of the allied genus mphal oy ramma . 



The Kew Bulletin issued in December (1920, no. 10) contains a 

 paper on the Balsams of Chitral and the Kachin Hills by the late 

 Major Toppin (1878-1917), arranged by Mr. S. T. Dunn' from the 

 MSS. and drawings which were bequeathed to Kew. Many new 

 species are described and figured from drawings by Major Toppin and 

 Sir Joseph Hooker, whose notes on the collections are incorporated 

 in the paper. The number also includes continuations of the " Dia- 

 gnoses African* " and " Decades Kewenses." 



We regret to record the death of the Rev. Canon H. W. Lett, 

 which occurred at Aghaderg, Co. Down, of which place he had been 

 rector since 1886, in December last, and of Mr. William Whitwell, of 

 whom notices will appear later. 



The Journal of Genetics for October contains an interesting 

 and important paper on the Bonavist Bean (Bolichos Labial) by 

 Dr. S. C. Harland. 



