248 NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



scarcely distinguishable from the sepals, except that it was velvety 

 and slightly broader, the sepals were rather narrower than usual, 

 and the petals smaller and less spreading. The sepals and labellum 

 were of one uniform dull rose -purple colour. The abnormal plants 

 appeared to be fertile. The pollinia were conspicuous, and each 

 plant bore two or three well-developed fruits. The tubers and 

 leaves were normal, the bracts rather narrow, and the plants 

 measured about fourteen inches from the tubers to the top of the 

 spikes. All the flowers on these two plants were of the ab- 

 normal form. One of the specimens was submitted to Mr. J. Gr. 

 Baker, who says, "A similar but not identical form has been 

 found near Reigate, and figured by Eeichenbach under the name 

 of Ophnjs TrollUr—Y. T. Mott. 



NiTELLA TENUissiMA IN Wales. — In a box of Potamogetons and 

 Characese gathered at Cors Bordeilio, Anglesea, kindly sent me by 

 Mr. J. E. Griffith, I find specimens of Cliara pohjacantha, Braun., 

 and Xitella tenuissima, Kiitz., which have not hitherto been recorded 

 from Wales. The habitat for the Xitella is very interesting, being 

 so far from its recorded British stations, i. e., Cambridgeshire and 

 Norfolk. It may be noted that in Cambridgeshire, as in Anglesea, 

 it grows with CJiara jjolyacaiitha. — Arthur Bennett. 



JuNGERMANNiA Helleriana, Xees, IN Britain. — Duriiig a botanical 

 ramble in Mardale, Westmoreland, on the 12th of May last, I found 

 numerous specimens of Jungermannia Helleriana, Nees, growing on 

 the decaying trunks of fallen birch trees. Since this plant has not 

 hitherto been recorded as British, I hereby place it on record ; 

 specimens of it will appear in the forthcoming fasciculus of 

 Carrington and Pearson's 'HepaticaB Britannicae Exsiccatae.' In a 

 future number of this Journal I hope to give a more detailed 

 account of the species and its discovery. — G. Stabler. 



Nottcts of Boolts. 



Early European Researches into the Flora of China. By E. 



Bretsohneider, M.D. London : Triibner, 1881. Pp. 194. " 

 Botanicon Sinicum : Notes on Chinese Botany from Native and 

 Western Sources. Same author and publisher, 1882. Pp. 228. 



In these two small works we have an amount of information 

 regarding the history of Chinese botany, the importance of which 

 it would be difficult to over-estimate. Dr. Bretschneider is well 

 known as a careful w^orker at the subject, and these two volumes 

 cannot fail to add to his reputation. 



In the first of them the author brings together the results 

 of early European researches into the Flora of China, beginning 

 with the notices of plants given by Mendoza, a Franciscan^monk, 

 who in 1585 prhited in Spanish a history of the country ; going on 



