104 THE JOURNAL OP BOTANY 



(London, Sampson Low & Co., new and revised edition, pp. xvi. 

 11 plates, price 4s. 6d. net) is rendered evident by the fact that the 

 first edition, which appeared in May, 1908, is ah-eady exhausted. 

 The present issue has afforded the author an opportunity for 

 making some alterations and additions. Four entirely new plates 

 have been added, and plate 1 of the old edition is omitted. The 

 terminology is improved in so far as the words " reproductive 

 organs" are employed in place of the inaccurate expression 

 " flowers." But it is a pity that the long-winded and artificial 

 English names are still retained ; they are twice or thrice as long 

 as the Latin binomial, are less accurate, and do not prepare the 

 student for the terminology employed in bryological works. It is 

 only fair to add that the Latin binomial is always given alongside 

 the English name, but being in brackets it is less prominent and 

 is liable to be neglected. The plan of the book is as follows. An 

 account in popular language is given of the main facts of the life- 

 history of the bryophytes and of their various modes of repro- 

 duction. The collection, examination, and preservation of speci- 

 mens is duly discussed ; and the best sort of apparatus for use in 

 this is described, indications for its home-manufacture being 

 added. Explicit instructions for the preparation of microscope- 

 slides are given, and hints for the avoidance of the many pitfalls 

 which beset the tyro. — A. G. 



We are glad to see that Mr. J. Medley Wood of the Natal 

 Garden is continuing his useful series of illustrations of Natal 

 Plants, which has now reached the second part of the sixth 

 volume. Although from the point of view of those at home it 

 might be wished that a larger proportion of the plates represented 

 species hitherto unfigured, the primary object of the work is 

 of course to help South African botanists and collectors, and for 

 this it is admirably adapted. The plates in this instalment show 

 a distinct improvement on those of earlier portions of the work. 



At the request of the Cotteswold Club, the Eev. H'. J. Eiddels- 

 dell has begun to compile material for an eventual Flora of the 

 County of Gloucester. The project is of long standing, but has 

 been in abeyance because the botanists who began %york on it 

 have in turn been called away to work which left them no leisure 

 for such a task. It would be of great assistance if the interest of 

 all botanists could be enlisted, so far as their. opportunities go. 

 Communications (1) of herbarium records, (2) names of books and 

 other sources of information, (3) any items of personal knowledge, 

 would be gratefully received by the Rev. H. J. Riddelsdell, Old 

 Registry, Llandaff. 



Prof, V. H. Blackman, who has since 1907 occupied the 

 Chair of Botany in the University of Leeds, has been appointed 

 Professor of Plant Physiology and Pathology at the Imperial 

 College of Science. 



