BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, ETC. 39 



aeraulhera," '' Peterospora," and the like ; " Drasera votnndifolia," 

 " Arctiib occidentale " (which is somewhat elucidated by the pre- 

 ceding "Arctub obiuui, Divaricatum ") appear among the species; 

 and the recent American fashion of trinominals is followed and 

 extended in such names as " Gathopsis calycina campanulacese,'' 

 " Khus aromatica, Ait vartrilo Vata," " Trifohum pratense, Tragus, 

 calycanthaceffi." '' Kymaplcuram, Greene" is apparently a new 

 genus, but no species is described, nor is there any diagnosis. The 

 synonymy of the author is somewhat striking: e.g. "409. Con- 

 volvus arvensis, L., Solanum umbelliferum Esch" and "418. 

 Dicentra panciflora, also Frilillaria." If Mr. H. E. Brown's speci- 

 mens are as remarkable as their names, they should be worth 

 acquiring. 



On December 4th the fortieth anniversary of Prof. C. Cramer's 

 joining the staff of the Ziirich Polytechnikum was celebrated by a 

 " Kommers," at which he was presented with an address. 



Sir Joseph Hooker's great work, the Flora of British India, is 

 now complete, a general index, occupying over 300 pages, having 

 lately been issued, with a short prefatory note on the work, from 

 which we quote the following account of its scope : — " I must remind 

 those who may use it," says Sir Joseph, " that it has no pretensions 

 to give full characters of the genera and species contained in it. 

 It aims at no more than being an attempt to sweep together and 

 systematize within a reasonable time and compass a century of 

 hitherto undigested materials scattered through a library of botanical 

 books and monographs, and preserved in vast collections, many of 

 which latter had laid unexamined for half a century in the cellars 

 of the India House, and in public and private herbaria. It is a 

 pioneer work, which, besides enabling botanists to name with some 

 accuracy a host of Indian plants, may, I hope, serve two higher 

 purposes — to facilitate the compilation of local Indian floras and 

 monographs of the large Indian genera; and to enable the phyto- 

 grapher to discuss the problems of the distribution of plants from 

 the point of view of what is perhaps the richest, and is certainly the 

 most varied botanical area on the surface of the globe, and one 

 which, in a greater degree than any other, contains representatives 

 of the floras of both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres." 



The index has evidently been compiled with much care, and is 

 by no means, as happens in some cases, a mere running together of 

 the partial indexes issued with each volume. A few omissions will 

 be noted by those who have the Flora in constant use — e. g. Exacum 

 anamalayanum Bedd., but this may be accounted for by its incorrect 

 citation in the body of the work ; such genera as Dichomlra and 

 Blinkworthia, indicated (iv. 180) as likely to occur, and therefore 

 described, should, we think, have found a place. We are sorry that 

 the incorrect spelling of Williighheia (" Willoughbeia"), for which no 

 justification can be urged, and to which we called attention at the 

 time of publication, should be retained; this is the more remarkable 

 because a prefatory note assures us that the index has been collated 

 with the Bidex Kewensis, in which the name is rightly entered as 



