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BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, dtc. 



Dr. John Leitch, who died at Sillotb, Cumberland, on Dec. 

 22ad, at the age of forty-seven, had a large collection of plants, 

 mainly collected by himself in various parts of Great Britain and 

 Ireland, and in the Channel Islands. Although he did not publish, 

 he had an extensive knowledge of British botany, to which he 

 devoted all his spare time. He was born at Monimail, Fife, and 

 graduated M.B. at Edinburgh in 1871. 



Drs. Errera and E. Laurent have recently published a series 

 of fifteen diagrams illustrating plant-physiology {Planches de Physio- 

 loifie Ver/kaJe: Bruxelles, Lamertin), accompanied by a volume of 

 descriptive text in French, the explanations of the plates being 

 also in Eughsh and German. Among the subjects illustrated are 

 nutrition, respiration, transpiration, fermentation, geotropism, 

 heliotropism, growth ; as well as carnivorous plants, saprophytes 

 and parasites, twining and climbing plants, and the variability of 

 species. The diagrams are of the size of the well-known ones of 

 Kny, and, although not equal to those in execution, they are clear 

 and telling, and their cheap price renders them additionally service- 

 able. The text is accompanied by reduced figures of the objects 

 figured in the diagrams. 



A botanical laboratory in the western tropics has long been 

 greatly needed, and we have much pleasure in announcing that 

 the establishment of such an institution is completely assured. 

 This is entirely owing to the euterprize of American botanists, and 

 in particular of Prof. MacDougal, of the University of Minnesota, 

 Minneapolis. He has obtained the necessary funds for the labora- 

 tory, and intends during the summer, with aid of a representative 

 commission from the United States, to examine various regions in 

 search of a suitable site. It is believed that cordial co-operation 

 on the part of botanists in this country would be welcomed. In 

 order to secure this co-operation, we venture to recommend one of 

 the lesser Antilles as the site. These islands are only a fortnight 

 from London, and their botanical attractions for future work are 

 great — a fact testified to by recent papers by Spruce on the He- 

 paticfe in the Journal of the Linnean Societi/, and Wainio on the 

 Lichens of Dominica in tbis Journal for 1896 ; to which may be 

 added the further fact that Dr. Stephani announces yet more 

 novelties in the way of Hepaticiie about to be published from the 

 same island. A site in Mexico, for example, though much to be 

 recommended on other grounds, would be a hindrance to co- 

 operation on the part of botanists in tbis country, on account 

 of the length of the journey. We heartily congratulate American 

 botanists on this manifestation of their enterprize, and wish it the 

 success it undoubtedly deserves. 



Several reviews stand over : among them notices of the Rev. 

 R. P. Murray's Flora of Somersetshire, and of Mr. W. R. Clarke's 

 First Facnrds of British Floweriiu/ Plants, which British botanists 

 will be glad to have in a connected form. 



