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BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, &c. 



Conference on Plant Protection. — A Conference under the 

 auspices of the Plant Protection Committee of the Selborne 

 Society was held, by permission, at the Linnean Society's Eooms 

 at Burlington House on September 19th. Dr. A. B. Eendle pre- 

 sided, and a large number of those interested in the botany of the 

 British Isles were present. The Committee has recently secured 

 the appointment of delegates from many of the Natural History 

 Societies throughout the country to take up the subject of plant 

 protection locally, and the object of the Conference was to secure 

 an interchange of views between the delegates and others inte- 

 rested in our Flora. The Chairman gave a general resume of the 

 subject, pointing out the various main causes of the destruction of 

 our native plants. Causes incident to increase of towns, drainage 

 of country, and the like must be accepted, but the malign influence 

 of large towns on surrounding vegetation might be lessened by 

 rational methods of dealing with smoke, and it would often be 

 found possible, if sufficient local interest were shown, to secure 

 small reservations in which the native flora might be left un- 

 disturbed when areas were subjected to draining, clearing of trees, 

 or laying out of golf-links. Eeference was also made to the 

 selfish methods of collectors and botanists which threaten the 

 local existence of our rarer plants, and to the wholesale destruction 

 effected, especially near large towns, by rooting up of plants for 

 sale ; while much might be done by education and extension of an 

 interest locally in our native flora, it was difficult to see how the 

 traffic could be effectively dealt with except by some form of 

 legislation. An interesting discussion followed, in which various 

 well-known botanists and some of the delegates took part, includ- 

 ing Mr. G. C. Druce, Mr. Miller Christy, Dr. C. E. Moss, Mr. E. M. 

 Holmes, Prof. Boulger, Mr. W. H. Griffin, and Mr. Step. Some 

 difference of opinion was expressed on the question of a legisla- 

 tive measure. Botanists would naturally resent any additional 

 restriction being placed on their movements by landowners. The 

 Chairman, however, pointed out that before any attempt was 

 made to obtain the passage of a Bill its provisions would be very 

 fully discussed by all parties interested in plant protection, and 

 that it should be possible to legislate in such a manner as to pre- 

 vent the ruthless destruction of plants by uprooting for purposes 

 of sale, without interfering with the liberty of the botanist. 



A review of Dr. John Briquet's Prodrome cle la Flore Corse 

 was given in this Journal (1911, pp. 276-8) on the occasion of 

 the publication of the first volume. The second volume is to 

 appear in two instalments, the first of which is now to hand. It 

 contains 409 pages, and carries the systematic account of the flora 

 from Papaveracece to the end of Leguminosa. In the interval 

 since the preparation of vol. i., additional material has become 

 available, notably that collected on an expedition in the south of 

 the island in 1911. The work, which is on the same lines as in 



