160 BOTANICAL XE^VS. 



land was held at Perth, to hear the report of the committee appointed 

 at the Fungus Show held in Aberdeen in September last to organise 

 a Cryptogamic Society in Scotland. A constitution having been 

 adopted, the following office-bearers were elected for the present 

 year: — President, Sir T. Moncreiffe, of Moncreiffe, Bart.; Vice-Pre- 

 sident, Professor Dickie, Aberdeen ; Secretary, Dr. Buchanan White, 

 F.L.S. ; Treasurer, Rev. I. Stevenson, Glamis. It is intended to have 

 a show of Cryptogamic plants, especially of Pungi, every year in 

 various districts of Scotland in rotation, and the show for this year is 

 to be in Perth about the end of September. The Society will also 

 adopt other means of promoting the study of Cryptogamic Botany, 

 and it is possible that it will from time to time issue a few fasciculi of 

 " ISTew or rare Scottish Cryptogamic Plants." English cryptogamo- 

 logists desirous of becoming corresponding members of the Society 

 should communicate with the Secretary, Dr. Buchan "White, Perth. 



We regret to record the death of the Rev. C. jS'ew, of the Metho- 

 dist Missionary Society. A notice of the plants collected by him on 

 his ascent of Kilima-njaro will be found at p. 235 of this Journal for 

 1872, and a more detailed account of them is published in the Journal 

 of the Linnean Society. 



Mr. Charles B. Plowright, of King's Lynn, announces for publica- 

 tion a second fasciculus of his '' Sphaeriacei Britannici." One hundred 

 species are comprised in the fasciculus, the price of which is £ I . 



A useful " Review of the Progress of Vegetable Physiology in 

 1874" appears in the '* Gardeners' Chronicle" for April 10th, and sub- 

 sequent numbers It is a translation of M. Michel's summary of the 

 subject published in the " Archives des Sciences." 



Dr. John Anderson, the naturalist to the recent expedition to 

 South-Eastern China which met with so much opposition from the 

 natives, and resulted in the death of Mr. Margary, has returned to 

 Calcutta, and is now on his way to England. He succeeded in escap- 

 ing with his life, but lost all his property, including his collections 

 and apparatus. 



Mr. J. B. Balfour has returned from Rodriguez with his collections, 

 which include about 300 species of plants. His thesis for the degree 

 of Doctor of Science, which was conferred upon him at Edinburgh 

 last month, was " On the Pandanese of the Mascarene Islands." 



A general course of Biological Instruction, devised so as to give a 

 survey of the leading features of plants and animals, is being given 

 conjointly at Oxford during the summer term by Professor Lawson and 

 Mr. E. Ray Lankester, in the herbarium at the Botanic Garden. 



The Paris Academy of Sciences awarded the following prizes last 

 year for botanical work ; the Barbier Prize (in part) to M. I. Chatin, 

 ifor studies of the Valerianeae ; the Desmazieres (1872) to M. M. Cornu, 

 for a monograph of the Saproleguieae ; and 1000 francs to M. Bornet 

 for his labours among lichens; 1000 francs to M. Lefranc, for his 

 paper on Atractylis gummifer ; the Desmazieres (1873) to M. 

 Girodot, on the Lemaneaceae (Algae) ; and 1000 francs to MM. Van 

 Tieghem and Lemonnier, on the Mucorineae ; the Bordin (1873) to M. 

 J. Vesque, for the anatomy and physiology of Dicotyledons ; and the 

 Gegner (4000 francs) to good works on fo.ssil botany, approved by M. 

 Brougniart. 



