HANDBOOK OF GRASSES. 93 



On p. 208, the leaves of Leucohrt/um are erroneously stated to be 

 " destitute of a midrib," whereas they really consist of an expanded 

 midrib, to the lower margins of which the inconspicuous remains of 

 the wings of the lamina are confined. Tesselina is correctly spelt on 

 p. 41, but incorrectly on pp. 42, 68, 69, and in the Index. 



. A. Gepp. 



Handbook of Grosses. By W. Hutchinson. Swan Sonnenschein & Co. 



Price 2s. 6d. 



A CHEAP handbook of British Grasses will be welcome to agri- 

 cultural botanists, especially if it contains figures which are accurate 

 enough to enable the student to identify species. Unfortunately 

 Mr. Hutchinson's book, in its method of arrangement, its descrip- 

 tions, and its woodcuts, will not be of great use to farmers or 

 students. To a botanist, the separation of the species in the 

 author's classification by the habitat is annoying, and even those 

 who are acquainted with the habits of the grasses will be puzzled 

 to know in which of the eight groups any given species is to 

 be found. The practical agriculturist will be surprised not to find 

 couch grass, A[fropyro7i repetis, in the "agrarian group, grasses 

 found in cultivated land," and if Mr. Hutchinson were correct in 

 placing it in the next group, whose members "are not partial to 

 any of the habitats mentioned," it would be a great saving in the 

 cultivation of English cornfields. 



It is surprising that, after the unanimous opinion of experts 

 expressed in recent writings on pasture grasses, that the author of 

 this book should be of the opinion that timothy and cock's-foot are 

 not among the most valuable meadow grasses, thus strengthening 

 the prejudice against the so-called " coarse grasses" — which might 

 be more correctly called the food-producing grasses. The figures, 

 which are from the illustrations to Bentham's Flora, are not large 

 enough to be of value for separating species, and it has no doubt 

 been found by students that the admirable woodcuts in Bentham's 

 handbook, while sufficient for the larger proportion of the flowering 

 plants, in the case of the (Jraminm and some other orders, do not, 

 owing to their size, contain the necessary detail. 



J. B. Carruthers. 



ARTICLES IN JOURNALS. 



Bat. Centralblatt (No. 1). — F. Brand, ' Ueber die Vegetations 

 verhiiltnisse des Wiirmsees und seine Grundalgen.' — (Nos. 2, 3). 

 K. Schilberozky, ' Ueber Bewegungserscheinungen der Bacillaria- 

 ceen.' — J. H. Wakker, ' Die generative Vermehrung des Zucker- 

 robrs.' 



Bot. Gazette (Dec. 16). — R, Thaxter, 'New or peculiar American 

 Zygomycetes. I. Dispira' (1 pi.). — F. V. Coville, 'Botanical 

 explorations of Thomas Coulter' (map). — M. L. Fernald, ' Un- 



