CATALOGUE OF WELWITSCH's AFRICAN PLANTS. 23 



ihre geographische Verbreitimg." The synonymy of the plant is 

 therefore :- — Lathyrus Licani Fritsch in Situngsber. d. Wiener 

 Akad. d. Wiss. civ. p. 517 (1895). Orubiis fjramUjlorHs Boissier, 

 Flora Orientalis, ii. p. G22 (1872), non Latlujrus (jrandijlorus Sibth, 

 et Sm. (1813). Lathi/nis Boissieri Autran at Durand, Hortus 

 Boissierianus, p. 73 (1896). — Karl Fritsch. 



NOTICES OF BOOKS. 

 The Welwitsch Herbarium. 



CataUtijue of the African Plants collected bij Dr. Friedrich Welwitsch 

 in 1853-61. Dicotyledons, Part I. [Eanunculacefe — Rhizo- 

 phoraceffi] . By William Philip Hiern, M. A., F.L.S. London : 

 British Museum (Natural History) ; Dulau & Co, 1890. 8vo, 

 pp. xxvi, 336. Price 7s. 6d. 



It is more than twenty years ago since the plants enumerated 

 in this Catalogue were the subject of proceedings in the English 

 law-courts. Br. Welwitsch bequeathed the first, or "study," set 

 of his collections to the British Museum, and his bequest was 

 disputed by the Portuguese Government, whose servant he had 

 been, and who claimed possession of all his collections. The 

 executors — Mr. Carruthers, then Keeper of the Department of 

 Botany in the British Museum, and Mr. F. Justen — resisted this 

 demand at their own personal risk. The suit resulted in a com- 

 promise, by which it was agreed that the Portuguese Government 

 should be considered as entitled to the collections, on the under- 

 standing that they Avould give to the British Museum the best set, 

 next after the study set, of the botanical specimens and other 

 objects of natural history, with a copy of all Welwitsch's notes 

 and descriptions, the Museum contributing to the costs of separation 

 and transcription. The work of separation was entrusted to Mr. 

 Hiern, and it was arranged that he should prepare a catalogue of 

 the botanical descriptions. Shortly after this, however, Mr. Hiern 

 left London, and although he made some progress towards the 

 proposed enumeration, the matter for the time fell through. 

 Fortunately, however, and very appropriately considering his con- 

 nection with the acquisition of the collections, Mr. Carruthers, 

 shortly before his retirement from the Museum, was able to induce 

 Mr. Hiern to resume his work, and we have now before us the first 

 instalment of the Catalogue of Welwitsch's African plants. ' 



This brief summary of what took place is practically identical 

 with the short preface which Mr. Murray has prefixed to the volume, 

 and is a sufficient record of what took place. Those who desire 

 further details of this botanical cause celebre will find them in this 

 Journal for 1875, pp. 380-2. Future botanical historians will fiud 

 it worth their while to consult the affidavits made by various emi- 

 nent botanists upon points connected with the case ; the extracts 

 from these which we were enabled to give' in an article *' Dr. See- 



