438 BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, ETC. 



(1 pL). — A. Hausgirg, ' Zur Keuntnis der gamo- unci karpo- 

 tropisclieu Bliitenbewegungen der Graser.' — J. Tobisch, ' Zur Pilz- 

 flora von Kilruten ' (concL). — F. Arnold, ' Lichenologische Frag- 

 mente ' (cont.j. 



BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, dc. 



The Religious Tract Society has issued, under the title Hoiv to 

 Studi/ Wild Elowers, a neat little half-crown volume by the Rev. 

 George Henslow. " The object of the book is to enable students 

 to rapidly acquire an accurate knowledge of typical British wild 

 flowers"; and this object it seems likely to fulhl, though we trust 

 those who use it will not follow the author in his employment of 

 the split infinitive. The treatment is original, interesting, and, 

 in most respects, accurate ; though we have commented on p. 

 422 on the erroneous derivation given for the name " London 

 Pride." The " artificial key to the orders and genera " has a very 

 terrifying appearance. There is a great deal of information dealing 

 with fertilization and kindred subjects, not generally met with in 

 books of this kind, as well as an excellent index — only one, we 

 are glad to say — in which everything is included. Mr. Henslow's 

 information on popular matters is, however, hardly to be trusted : 

 he sa.ys of Saiiihucus Ebulus, for instance, "it is sometimes called 

 dane-wort, being supposed to have been introduced by the Danes," 

 but the name has no reference to the " supposed introduction" of 

 the plant. We much doubt whether LythiKia was ever "a popular 

 drug." The illustrations are evidently from two sources, one good, 

 the other bad; they are in many cases inaccurately named — e.g. 

 those lettered Lientiana Pneiunonanthe, Solanum ni(/rum, Daphne 

 Mezereum do not represent those species. The book, however, is sure 

 to become popular, and no doubt these slips, as well as occasional 

 misspellings, will be corrected in the next edition. 



In the last number (part 5, vol. i.) of the South Eastern Naturalist, 

 Mr. George Dowker has a " Note on Silene dichotoma — a plant new 

 to Britain," which he found in an arable field near Wingham Hill, 

 Kent, in 1887. We do not know in what sense the phrase "new to 

 Britain " is to be understood : the plant is certainly not native, and 

 has often been recorded as a casual in these pages and elsewhere. 

 In the British Herbarium of the Department of Botany we have 

 specimens from Hartlepool (1878), Croydon (1874), Kingswood, 

 Gloucestershire (1882), York (188U), Albury (1893), S. Devon 

 ^1894), and Bedfordslnre (no date). 



The Seventh Annual Report of the Missouri Botanic Garden 

 contains three important papers on United States plants ; the first 

 on the JiKjlandacecE by the Director, Dr. Trelease, illustrated by 

 25 plates; the second on the Agaves, by A. Isabel Mulford, with 

 38 plates; and the third on the Ligulate Wolttias, by C. H. Thomp- 

 son, with 3 plates. There are, besides these, numerous illustrations 

 and other plates of purely ornamental description, such as that of 



