BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, ETC. 175 



In this are embedded numerous hollow spines. The apparent 

 bases of these spines are produced into hollow anastomosing tubes, 

 which spread over the surface of the sphere, forming a com- 

 plicated network. The spines are hollow, and are perforated in 

 every direction by projecting tubular pores. Emanating from 

 these pores are delicate threads which appear to lose themselves 

 in the gelatinous envelope. Sometimes the threads form a regular 

 network in it. The inner capsule, a definite brown membrane, 

 can only be observed in the more perfectly preserved specimens. 

 Spores are generally present, which appear to produce small 

 spores. The Traquairice. occur in groups in the decayed wood of 

 Lepidodendron and other plants." She then exhibited T. Car- 

 ruthersii, T. Spenceri, sp. nov., T. burntislandica, sp. nov., and 

 T. stellata, sp. nov., and a species of an allied genus, S'porocariMn 

 elegans. The most characteristic feature in the organisms de- 

 scribed is the very complicated structure of the outer envelope 

 with its elaborate system of anastomosing tubes connected with 

 prominent spines, which are themselves very complex organs. 

 Nothing parallel to this is known in the vegetable world. The 

 presence of an "inner capsule" containing spores, in the interior 

 of which small spores are produced, reminds one of Eadiolarians. 

 These features are also common to Sporocarpon elegans, which 

 with its long spines is very much like a Eadiolarian. 



At the same meeting, Mr. E. S. Adamson gave a lantern 

 demonstration of his communication entitled " An Ecological 

 Study of a Cambridgeshire Woodland," of which the following is 

 an abstract : — The woodland investigated (Gamlingay Wood) is in 

 the extreme West of Cambridgeshire, situated on Boulder Clay. 

 This Boulder Clay gives rise to two soils — one a heavy fine-grained 

 calcareous clay, and the other a non-calcareous loam. These soils 

 are markedly different, especially in water-contents ; the calcareous 

 clay has a large water-content all through the summer, while the 

 loam never gets so wet in winter, and dries up very much in 

 summer. Correlated with the differences in the soils, the two 

 types of vegetation are quite different. Oak [QLtercm piedimciblata) 

 is dominant all over. On the clay beneath the standard trees is a 

 dense shrub-layer consisting mainly of Hazel and Ash, with nume- 

 rous other species in less quantity. This layer is periodically 

 coppiced and allowed to regenerate naturally ; on the loam, shrubs, 

 as a distinct layer, are absent. The ground floras of the two soils 

 are also quite different. Each can be divided into several societies 

 depending on the interaction of several factors, of which soil- 

 moisture and light-intensity are the most prominent. The chief 

 plants of the clay flora are Spiraa Ulmaria, Deschampsia caspi- 

 tosa, Mercuricdis perennis, and Primula elatior ; and of the loam, 

 Pteris aquilina and Holcus mollis. That part of the wood on the 

 clay is an (Ash)-Oak-Hazel Wood, and that on the loam a dry 

 Oak Wood. 



In his introductory study of The Livcncoris, British and 

 Foreign (Witherby & Co., 1911, pp. viii, 74, 49 figs., price 2s. 6^. net). 

 Sir Edward Fry has produced a companion volume to his popular 



