12S BOTANICAL NEWS. 



those of this country, has published, in the 27th vol. of the '♦ Me- 

 moires couronu6s " of tho Belgian Academy, the commencement of 

 his Diagnoses of new species. This first part treats only of the genus 

 Anguria, of which the author constitutes 4 genera — Anguria 

 proper, with 16 species (4 new) ; Gurania, with 47 species (33 new) ; 

 Dieudonnaa {^=Angiin'a rhizatitha, Poepp. & Endl.) and Helmontt'a, 

 with 2 species (1 new). The whole are tropical American. 



Mr. R. A. Pryor, of Hatfield, contributes a valuable paper " On 

 the botanical work of the past season" to the "Transactions of the 

 Watford Natural History Society." A careful investigation of the 

 river drainage of Hertfordshire has led the author to make consider- 

 able alterations in the districts originally proposed by Mr. Coleman, 

 and the new limits are clearly shown by a map. The two largest 

 river basins in the country, those of the Colne and the Lea, are 

 divided into the basins of their tributaries, and thus are formed six 

 districts in the former and seven in the latter. The whole number of 

 districts made is sixteen, with an average area each of rather less than 

 forty square miles. The body of the paper is occupied by notes on 

 the additions to the Flora made in 1875, the segregate species 

 observed, &c. 



Dr. Engelmarm's Notes on Agave will be found in the " Transactions 

 of the Academy of Science of St. Louis, Missouri," for December, 1875. 

 The memoir contains a systematic enumeration of the North American 

 species, in which several novelties are now first described. 



Baron von Mueller, in the first number of "Descriptive Notes on 

 Papuan Plants " (1875), brought by J. Reedy, collecting for Sir W. 

 Macarthur, from two previously unexamined localities, gives some 

 account of several species of interest, including a new Melaleuca (M. 

 Papuajia). He remarks that the blending of Australian with Sundaic 

 forms is a remarkable feature of the Flora of this great island, of 

 which the mountains are likely to yield many novelties. 



AVe are glad to see that the List of Desiderata of the BotaniceJ 

 Exchange Club has been issued to the members in time to enable them 

 to use it throughout the collecting season ; we hope the Report will 

 quickly follow. 



Messrs. H. 0. Houghton and Co., of Boston, intend to publish a 

 series of sketches of the wild flowers of North America, from studies 

 by the well-known botanical artist, Mr. Isaac Spraguc. Each port- 

 folio of four coloured plates is to be accompanied by descriptive letter- 

 press, in which the more interesting details of structure and the habits 

 of the plants will be explained. 



In his Report of the Edinburgh Botanic Garden for 1875, the 

 Regius Keeper again urges on the notice of the Government the 

 necessity for a curator of the herbarium and library. He states that 

 the want of someone in constant charge is a great hardship and decided 

 hindrance to the usefulness of the institution. 



We understand that the whole of the collections of Diatoms made 

 by the late il. de Brebisson were purchased by Prof. H. L. Smith, 

 who has on sale series of slides authentically labelled. Alany of Dr. 

 Brebisson's species cannot otherwise be obtained. Two centuries of 

 slides have been issued, and the third is nearl)' ready. Mr. Stodder, 

 of Boston, is agent. 



