BOOK-XOTES, XEWS, ETC. 29 



living under tlie Emperors Nero and Vespasian, and dying about 

 A.D. 77. His five books on Materia Medica seem to have suffered at 

 the hands of editors, and it is usual to find two additional books 

 tacked on which are obviously not the w^ork of Dioscorides. The 

 text, even in the earlier MS. known, seems to be derived from still 

 earlier sources, possibly taking shape about the close of the 

 3rd century. The celebrated Codex Anicice Juliance is stated to 

 have been written about a.d. 512, though freely ascribed to 40 years 

 earlier (472). It was acquired by Busbecq, Austrian Ambassador to 

 Turkey, and finally reached Vienna, where it now is. A later Codex 

 NeapoJitcmus is also preserved in the Imperial Library at Vienna, but 

 of about the 7th century. In 1768-73, engravings from the Viennese 

 Codex Neapoliianus were prepared b}^ the Librarian, Gerhard Swieten, 

 the botanic portion under the care of Baron N. J. Jacquin. In 

 March 1764, a set so far as engraved was sent to Linnaeus for his 

 advice ; they were to be guarded carefully and shown to no one. 

 The work was stopped at or soon after Swieten's death in 1772 ; four 

 copies are known, two are at Vienna : the best copy has 410 figures, 

 1-383 are from the Codex Neapolitamis. 384-410 from the Codex 

 Anicice Juliance : the second copy has only 407 figures. The copy 

 at Oxford, given or lent to Sibthorpe in 1786, has 409 figures ; the 

 Linnean Society's copy has only 142, but these are annotated by 

 Jacquin ; possibly the promised continuation was never sent. No 

 author has been more commented on than Dioscorides, and of the 

 score of commentators none has reached the reputation of P. A. 

 Mattioli, whose works, with or without illustrations, have reached an 

 extraordinarv number of editions in various lano:uao"es. His biblio- 

 grapher, Moretti, states that he possessed 40 editions, and knew of 

 11 others in various libraries. Dr. Sibthorp (1758-1796), Professor 

 of Botany at Oxford, may be said to be the last of the line, the 

 splendid ' Flora Grrteca,' jDrovided for by him, and edited by our 

 founder. Sir J. E. Smith, being finished in 1840 under the care of 

 Dr. Lindley. 



At the same meeting Dr. Jackson referred to the new cases for 

 the Linnean Herbarium. He said that in the autiimn of 1914 the 

 Council took steps to g-uard the Linnean Herbarium from damage by 

 enemy aircraft, by storing it in the basement. This arrangement 

 rendered consultation troublesome, and, during the past summer, the 

 Council decided to bring the Herbarimn from the basement to its 

 former position in the meeting-room. Additional security was pro- 

 vided by enclosing the packets of plants in a series of 21 metal cases, 

 resting in an iron frame, and enclosed within an outer cabinet lined 

 with sheet asbestos and galvanized steel ; similar non-combustible 

 material took the place of the glass which previously shut in the 

 original Linnean cabinets ; the three old original cabinets have now 

 been transferred to different uses in another part of the Society's 

 apartments. 



At the meeting of the same Society on November 30th Mr. James 

 Small, M.Sc, read a paper " On the Eloral Anatomy of some Com- 

 positse." The vascular supply of various bilabiate or ray-florets was 

 discussed, and it was shown that in these the vascular supply varies 



