BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, ETC. 157 



and Arenaria being distinguished by the same cardinal character 

 which separates Lychnis from Silene. The genus under revision 

 inchides species (of which 168 are enumerated) distributed chiefly 

 throughout the north temperate zone, though in the New World a 

 few occur in South America. A few species which extend toward 

 the Tropics occur at considerable elevations on mountain-ranges, 

 reaching, for instance, 19,000 ft. in the Himalayas of West Tibet. 

 In this revision, for the formation of primary groups, the two 

 associated characters relied on are the number of teeth formed by 

 dehiscence of the ripe capsule, and the structure of the disk. An 

 examination of several series of specimens, especially of those of 

 the better known forms growing in situ, shows these two characters 

 to be fairly constant, and suitable for the definition of primary 

 groups, although in habit and aspect species of Alsine are not 

 readily distinguished from those of Arenaria. The author's descrip- 

 tions are confined to species recognized during the last fifty years 

 (from 1848 to 1897 inclusive), the others being cited in their proper 

 place by name and references. 



At the meeting of the Linnean Society on March 3rd, Mr. G. 

 Claridge Druce read a paper on the occurrence of Carex helvola 

 Blytt in Britain, in which he gave an account of his discovery ot 

 this plant on Ben Lawers, Perthshire, in August, 1897. He found 

 it growing in some abundance at an elevation of about 3200 ft. 

 Prof. Blytt and Dr. Christ, to whom specimens had been submitted, 

 both agreed in naming it C. helvola, which by many botanists is 

 considered to be a hybrid. Prof. Blytt says that it grows with 

 C. canescens and apiwoximata (lagopina), but he has never found ripe 

 fruit. Dr. Christ says : " II me semble d'etre une ancienne hybride 

 fixe et plus ou moins stable." Mr. Druce could readily believe that 

 C. helvola was a hybrid of which C. canescens was one parent, but he 

 had more difficulty in stating definitely the name of the other. From 

 the close resemblance borne by C. helvola to C. Zalinii (an acknow- 

 ledged hybrid of C. canescens, in one of its forms, with C. approxi- 

 mata), this combination might well be the origin of the Ben 

 Lawers plant, but against that was the fact that the presence of 

 C. approximata in the Breadalbanes had never been proved. 

 C. echinata, on the contrary, was plentiful there, but Mr. Druce 

 could see no positive evidence of the occurrence of that species 

 in the foliage or inflorescence. He would have expected the off- 

 spring of two plants with nerved perigynia to have exhibited that 

 character even in young specimens ; as is shown in C. pseiido- 

 helvola, an acknowledged hybrid of C. canescens and norvegica. 

 The foliage, too, was slightly glaucous, a character not possessed 

 by C. echinata. Although the Ben Lawers plant was less luxuriant 

 than Blytt's Norwegian specimens, Mr. Druce was unable to separate 

 it specifically from that plant. 



A SECOND instalment of the Welwitsch Catalogue has just made 

 its appearance, in which Mr. Hiern continues the enumeration 

 of the phanerogams to the end of Rubiacea. Four new genera 

 and a large number of new species are described in this part. 



