134! THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



Kinnordy [probably in 1836], and looking out of the window saw liini 

 wlieeling a barrow of marl up to the house from the pit [to search for 

 shells].'"' 



The volumes contain several portraits, including the weak study 

 by Richmond, who "has turned me out a very lackadaisical young 

 gentleman," and the excellent one by Herkomer (1889) at the 

 Linnean Society. The appendixes contain a full bibliography, ex- 

 tending from 1837 to 1911, thus'including the posthumous papers on 

 Impatieiis, and a long " list of Degrees, Appointments, Societies, and 

 Honours," which was hardly worth printing — it contains such entries 

 as " Two Jasper Cups from the liussian Emperor : Gift" and '* Con- 

 gratulations from the Linnean Society (on completion of Genera 

 Flantarum) " : a sketch is also given of the extraordinary career of 

 Jorgen Jorgensen, "the Convict King" (1770-1844), whom Hooker 

 met in Tasmania in 1840. An admirable index is provided, in which 

 the summary of the principal events of Hooker's life is particularly 

 well done. Only one detail affords ground for unfavourable criticism : 

 it is to be regretted that the proofs urere not submitted to a botanist 

 for revision, as there are far too many misprints ; in vol. ii. p. 447, 

 we have in one line, consecutively " Alpina, Lygodon Moiigeoltu " 

 and, five lines later, " Minum " ; "the genus Maddenia Rosacece " 

 (i. 468); "• Gymnostonum'''' (L 38); "• Sahularia'''' (i. 76) are in- 

 stances which might easily be multiplied. But this imperfect appre- 

 ciation of Mr.- Huxley's work must not end upon a note of even slight 

 censure upon a biography which will take permanent rank among the 

 best of the class to which it belongs. 



James Bkitten. 



BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, etc. 



At the meeting of the Linnean Society on 20th March, a paper 

 by Mr. Frederick Lewis, F.L.S., " Notes on a Visit to Kunadiya- 

 parawitta Mountain, with a List of the Plants obtained, and their 

 Altitudinal Distribution," was read by the Botanical Secretary. This 

 curious mountain is nearl}^ due west of the sacred " Adam's Peak," 

 and rises abruptly to an altitude of 5186 feet above the sea, and is 

 surrounded by forest. The sunlmit is small in extent, surrounded by 

 precipices, in the path of the S.W. monsoon, which strikes on this 

 isolated peak and by its force dwarfs the vegetation on it. The 

 rainfall on the eastern base is about 230 inches per annum, on the 

 western side about 330 inches yearly. The llora appears to be largely 

 endemic, animal life is practically absent, and wind transport of seeds 

 of those plants which are on the summit seems unlikely. Forty-nine 

 plants were collected on the mountain top in one day's visit, and 

 were determined at Peradeniya ; of the 49, ten only are found outside 

 Ceylon, the remainder being endemic. The President, Sir David 

 Prain, gave an account of his visits to two islands oif the Indian 

 coast. On one of these. Barren Island in the Andaman group, he 

 found that Terminalia Cata^jya, which usually grows close to tlie 



