BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, ETC. 47 



Plants of the year 1894." " These lists are indispensable to the 

 maintenance of a correct nomenclature, especially in the smaller 

 botanical establishments in correspondence with Kew"; if this 

 is so, it is to be regretted that this was not issued earlier in the 

 year, as such a list could easily have been completed in the first 

 week of 1895, and published at once. The enumeration includes 

 such plants as " Cypripedium Mme. Octave Opoix" and "Odonto- 

 glossum Imperatrice de Russie," as well as others "of no horti- 

 cultural interest; " and the information it gives is thus fully entitled 

 to be classed as " miscellaneous." The number of the Bulletin 

 purporting to be for November made its appearance in the latter 

 half of December, but — as if to compensate for this lateness — tlic 

 first " Appendix" for 189G has already been published. 



Mr. E. Schlechtek, whose papers on Asrlepiaducfcc have lately 

 been appearing in this Journal, left England early in December for 

 a prolonged visit to South Africa. Arriving at Cape Town in 

 January, he will proceed to the Could Bokkeveld. In June or 

 July, according to the rainy season, he will go to the southern 

 parts of Nama-land, then over the Orange Eiver to Liideritzland. 

 In September he will return south, to visit the less explored western 

 regions, especially the Hantam Mountains. In 1897, starting from 

 Natal through Zululand and Swaziland to the Limpopo Valley, 

 Mr. Schlechter, after crossing the Limpopo Eiver, will explore 

 Matabeleland and the other regions between the Limpopo and 

 Zambesi Elvers. He hopes to return to Europe about May, 1898. 



Mr. G. C. Druce has been appointed Curator of the Fielding 

 Herbarium at Oxford. 



We are glad to learn that the INIonocotyledons of the Flora 

 Capensis (to occupy the sixth volume, volumes iv. and v. being left 

 for the remaining Dicotyledons) have been sent to press; and it is 

 to be hoped that, in the interests of the Colonies, Mr. Chamberlain 

 will do something to accelerate the pace of the Flora of Tropical 

 Africa, for the continuation of which Lord Salisbury expressed 

 anxiety nearly five years since. We note that neither of these 

 Floras occurs in the list of "Works in preparation at the Eoyal 

 Gardens, Kew," which appears in the latest issue of the Bulletin of 

 Miscellaneous Information, nor is there any indication that the much- 

 needed Guide to the Gardens is in progress. Oddly enough, however, 

 Mr. Jackson's Index, completed some months back, still finds a 

 place in the list. Is it not time that the numbering (in roman 

 numerals) of the articles of the Bxdlethi was discontinued? In 

 some cases — e.(j. " CCCCLXXXVIII. Sumach" — the number is 

 considerably longer than the title to the article, and can serve no 

 useful purpose. 



Mr. F. N. Williams has issued a "Provisional and Tentative 

 List of the Orders and Families of British Flowering Plants," 

 which is based on the works of Willkomm and Lange, Engler and 

 Prantl, Parlatore, Caruel, and others, with some additions by Mr. 

 Williams himself. The list is calculated to startle English botanists, 

 <'who," Mr, Williams tells us, "cling with tenacious conservatism 



