358 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



Pteridophyta, they might be considered as reduced rather than 

 as primitive forms. 



As a friend and a former pupil of the author, the writer feels at 

 times that sickness must have begun to affect his mental powers during 

 the writing of this work ; for in several places there is a tendency to 

 dogmatise, and he scarcely seems to have appreciated the extreme 

 caution with which Kidston and Lang compared the rootless Rhynia 

 with the only modern rootless Pteridophytes, viz. the Psilotaceae. 

 Kecently Dr. J. Home has pointed out a quite unaccountable mis- 

 take in classification of the Old lied Sandstone plants given in the 

 early part of the book, where the Caithness plants are stated to be of 

 Upper O. R.S. age. 



As Dr. Scott points out in his Preface, Arbor's views on the poly- 

 phyletic origin of thtj higher plants have something in common with 

 the brilliant speculations of Dr. A. H. Church. This conception is 

 one which must exercise a marked influence on botanical thought, 

 for it has to be considered, even if it is not regarded by all as well 

 founded. Should the polyphyletic hypothesis prove of lasting value, 

 Devonian Plants will stand as a book of importance in the develop- 

 ment of botanical thought; in any case it contains a store of 

 interesting information about the plants of very remote antiquity. 



H. H. T. 



BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, etc. 



At the meeting of the Linnean Society on November .3, Dr. Day- 

 don Jackson gave an account of the recently-completed Catalogue of 

 the Linnean Herbarium. He stated that his first reference was made 

 nearly fifty years ago, when he found that Mr. II. Kippist, at that 

 time Librarian, could not explain certain signs employed by Linnaeus, 

 the meaning of which had been lost. The speaker's first published 

 contribution to a knowledge of the herbarium was made in 188S, on 

 the Centenary Anniversary of the Society, when he was commissioned 

 by the President, Mr. W. Carruthers, to draw up an account of 

 the growth of the collections, their purchase by Dr. J. E. Smith, 

 and, lastly, their acquisition and tenure by the Society. In turn 

 followed an account of the Banksian desiderata supplied from the 

 Linnean stores ; the List of the genera with the number of sheets in 

 each ; and the Index issued in 1913. A diversion to the zoological 

 collections came to publication in the next year; then Tulbagh's 

 considerable collection in 1918 ; and, finally, the present MS., which 

 has taken more than two years to compile. The guiding idea has 

 been to supply the answer to future enquiries by giving the 

 writer's name to each label or comment, wherever possible, the 

 Linnean letters affording an invaluable help in identifying hand- 

 writing. The MS. has been drawn up for reference in later years ; it 

 includes the interpretation of many signs used by Linnaeus, the 

 meaning of which had been lost for more than a century, but was 

 now rediscovered. Lantern-slides in explanation of these points 

 were shown. 



