SYNOPSIS DER MITTELEUROPAISOHEN FLORA. 411 



clature," which relates to the publication of a name by means of 

 " exsiccata." The clause in question has always seemed to us a 

 particularly weak point in the '* Laws," for the mere identical 

 ticketing and distribution of a few specimens which may or may 

 not beloug to precisely the same plant is a most unsatisfactory and 

 "slipshod " method of publication, and we think that it is incumbent 

 on the author of a new species not merely to give it a name, but 

 also to indicate to some extent its distinguishing characteristics. 

 The Berlin modification of the rule whereby it is necessary, in 

 order to constitute a valid publication, that the specimen should be 

 accompanied by a description, is certainly a step in the right 

 direction, but we should like to see the matter carried further, 

 and publication by means of "exsiccata" entirely disallowed, for 

 the following reasons : — (1) That the number of sets of exsiccata 

 which can be issued is necessarily much more limited than the 

 number of almost any printed book; (2) That exsiccata are in- 

 admissible in libraries, and can only be consulted in a few of the 

 large herbaria ; (3) That experience teaches us that the specimens 

 sent out under one number in a fasciculus are by no means always 

 identical, though of course they always should be so, besides which 

 there is always the liability of labels being crossed ; (4) That the 

 means of publishing descriptions of new species either in a journal, 

 the proceedings of a society, or in a book, are within the reach of 

 everyone. — H. & J. Groves. 



Pyrola. rotundifolia L. in Flintshire. — On the 25tli August last 

 my brother, Mr. Spencer Whitwell, of Liverpool, obtained a number 

 of specimens of this species on a piece of boggy ground near Mostyu. 

 This is its first record for Flint county : indeed, according to Top. 

 Bot. ed. 2, no Pyrola has previously been reported for Wales itself. 

 Parnassia palustris was abundant at the same spot. — William 

 Whitwell. 



NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



Synopsis der Mitteleuropdischen Flora. By P. Ascherson and P. 

 Graebner. Leipzig : W. Engelmann. 1897. (Band i. 

 Lieferuugen 3 and 4.) 



In the review of the former parts of this work (Journ. Bot. 

 1896, 480), the importance of which for the student of the Central 

 European flora, as well as of the European floras generally, 

 can hardly be overstated, certain arrangements were hinted at 

 which should guarantee its regular progress. The labour ap- 

 peared too great for any single person, even of so ripe an experi- 

 ence as Prof. Ascherson, considering the thoroughness and com- 

 pleteness with which it needed to be done. Author and publisher 

 seem to have felt this alike, and the cover of the third and fourth 

 parts, which have been issued jointly on the 15th of June, announces 

 that Dr. Paul Graebner, of Berlin, has consented to become co- 

 author. He has already assisted Prof. Ascherson for a considerable 



