inn ! 111. .11 a i;-NAl. OK EOT ANT 



strated that two of Hanuiiar's three generic sections, the Af/rarice 

 and tlie Capreulatcc, were morphologically closely connected, while his 

 third section, the OJIiciiiales, was more distinct. It was then con- 

 tended tliat the section Sj)J/(erocap?ios most natm-ally divides into two 

 ])rimarv grou])s, viz. : — GrandiJIoriP (the Agrco'ice and CapreoJatce of 

 Hammar) and F(irviflor(e (Hammar's OjficinaleH), an arrangement 

 practically coinciding with Haussknecht's division into Latisectce and 

 Aiif/iiiiti'sf'ctce in his treatise on these plants in "Flora" (1873). 

 Additional weight was lent to this view by references to geographical 

 distri])ntion, which shows that while the Grandiflorce are plants of 

 the ]Meditcrranean region and Western Europe, the ParviJJorce have a 

 nuich wider range and are more prevalent in Eastern Europe and in 

 Asia. Attention was directed to the tendency to cleistogamy in the 

 genus — most marked in the large-Howered species — and illustrative 

 figures of F. sepium in different conditions were shown. The intrinsic 

 beauty of many of the Grand ijlorce, rendering them desirable objects 

 for garden cultivation under suitable environment, was also briefly men- 

 tioned. Lack of time prevented detailed reference to the individual 

 s])ecies of the pa}ier, wliicli number 46, but the original discovery of 

 F. niicraniha in Britain by Gerard, suppressed in Johnson's edition 

 and subsequently overlooked, was 23ointed out, and it w^as noted that 

 the specimens of Kay's F. major scan dens Jfore pall id lore in the 

 Sloane Herbarium and in the Dubois Herbarium at Oxford are forms 

 of F. ojjicinalis, not of F. capvcolata for which Kay's name is cited 

 by Linna'us. 



Wj-: are glad to hear that Miss Carlotta Herring- Browaie, who has 

 been engaged for some years past in investigations into the life of 

 John Bartram, the pioneer American botanist, has nearly completed 

 her researches into the early records, including those in the British 

 Mu.seum at Bloomsbury and Cromwell Koad and the l^oyal and 

 Linnean Societies, and is now linishing her search at tlie Record Office. 

 She ho])es to have her volume ready for the printers shortly. As the 

 dates of Bartram's life have often been misstated, it may be well to ])lace 

 the true dates on record. He was born on the 2.'5rd March, l(j91), near 

 the village of Darby in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The farm, 

 which has now become Bartram Park, was bought by him in 172S, 

 and lies near the junction of the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers. 

 His stone house, built by his own hands, was finished in 1731. His 

 thoughts were turned to botany in 1730, and in that year his friend 

 James Logan jn-ocured for him a copy of Parkinson's "Theatrum."" 

 He was thereupon stimulated to travel after the plants and trees of 

 his neighbourhood at a time when such journeys were difficult and 

 dangerous. His house com])leted, he took to establishing native plants 

 in his garden ; in about 1734, on the suggestion of IxMijamin Franklin, 

 Hartram sent his diaries to Peter Collinson, and the interchange of 

 letters and ])arcels of j)lants lasted till the death of CN)llins()n in 1759. 

 A few old trees due to these introductions still remain at Mill Hill, 

 and some of the observations sent to Lond(<n are ])reserved at the 

 Ivoyal Society or were printed in the GcnilcinatCs Magazine. 

 Bartram died on the 22nd September, 1777. 



HoTANV ligm-es largely in the AjM-il number of tlio Jorrnnl of 



