364 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



thickened guard-cells, are always subtended by a pair of subsidiary 

 cells. In these points the group is distinguished from the recent 

 forms and from the Nilssoniales, while showing some similarity 

 with the Gnetales. The second group agrees with the modern 

 forms rather than with the Bennettitales, having straight epi- 

 dermal cell-walls and stomata with four or more subsidiary cells. 

 If the ancestors of modern Cycads are to be found in the Meso- 

 zoic rocks, cuticular structure indicates that they are to be sought 

 among forms possessing fronds of the Nilssonia type. 



The Cambridge University Press publishes in its " Nature 

 Study Series" an excellent and cheap little book on Weeds, by 

 Mr. E. Lloyd Praeger (Is. 6d. net), to w r hich Miss Eosamond 

 Praeger and Mr. E. J. Welch contribute illustrations. It is just 

 the book for intelligent children who, by means of the school- 

 gardens which are making way among us, are familiar with the 

 practical developments of plant-life. The " particular illus- 

 trations," the author tells us, are drawn from Ireland, although 

 the lessons will be found applicable to any portion of the British 

 Isles ; it would however perhaps have been better if the sketch 

 of the vegetation (pp. 8-12) had been more general. The chapter 

 describing " some common weeds " (of which the Irish as well as 

 the English names are given) is admirably done, but indeed the 

 whole book is in every way satisfactory — there is a capital index, 

 and the typography and binding are excellent. 



As might be expected, the recent war in Tripoli has led to the 

 publication of papers on the natural history of the district. 

 Among them is a " Contribution a la flore algologique de la 

 Tripolitaine et de la Cyrenai'que," by Prof. G. B. De Toni & A. 

 Forti {Annates de VInstitut Oceanographique, v. fasc. 7, 1913, 

 56 pp.), founded on collections made at Tobrouk and Benghazi by 

 Dr. Vaccari of the Italian navy, and in Tripoli by Prof. A. Trotter. 

 The main interest of the paper is its list of diatoms, no species 

 having ever before been recorded for the Tripoli coast ; 156 species 

 are here enumerated. Amphora incequistriata, a freshwater species, 

 is new to science : and some of the larger algae are also new 

 records for the region. 



The botanical contents of the September number (vol. iii. n. 2; 

 issued Oct. 28) of the Journal of Genetics are a long paper on 

 " Eeduplication Series in Sweet Peas," by Mr. E. C. Punnett, one 

 of the editors, and a short " Note on Gametic Eeduplication in 

 Pisum" by Miss Caroline Pellew. The other papers in the 

 number treat of genetics in its relation to zoology. 



Newspaper Botany. — The Westminster Gazette of October 23 

 had a poem on "the Flowering Aloe," based on the venerable 

 fiction " that the Aloe flowers once only in a hundred years, and 

 then dies." It begins : — 



" A hundred years to hoard thy sweetness up. 



n pn ia • A hundred years to hold this golden bloom." 



" Squandering in one brief month the patient years, 

 The Aloe Flower her royal bloom uprears, 

 Then, shrivelled, withered, brown, sinks dead to earth." 



