BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, ETC. 159 



contains a more attractive account of these than this of Mrs. Earle's, 

 and we hope she will pursue her researches and publish the results 

 — perhaps apart from the domesticities which form a considerable 

 percentage of this potpourri. There is, it seems to us, room for a 

 book of this kind, but, should Mrs. Earle act on this suggestion, we 

 would advise her to submit her proofs to some botanical friend, in 

 order that certain slips which disfigure the present volume may be 

 avoided in the future. 



Mrs. Rowan, to whose drawings of Australian plants we referred 

 in this Journal for 1896 (p. 239), has published a book called 

 A Flower- Hunter in Queensland and New Zealand. It can hardly 

 be held to justify its title, for there is little about flowers beyond 

 some rather gushing remarks in the preface as to the author's 

 "love for the flora of Australia, at once so unique and so fasci- 

 nating," and about " the delight of finding rare and even unknown 

 specimens" (sic) — "those specimens hitherto unknown were named 

 by the late Sir Frederick Miiller." Only one example of Mrs. 

 Rowan's really clever coloured drawings of plants is reproduced : 

 this is said to be "a specimen of Cochliospermam " {sic). As a 

 book of travel the volume is fairly interesting, but as far as plants 

 are concerned it is not enlightening. Nor do we learn anything as 

 to the occurrence of certain unexpected additions to the Australian 

 flora, to which we drew attention in our note already referred to. 



We have received the first number (Feb.) of The Cactus Journal, 

 a new monthly, which is not to be limited in accordance with its 

 title, but will "exclusively deal with Cacti, Euphorbias, Stapelias, 

 Agaves, Aloes, Echeverias, Mesembryanthemums, and other succu- 

 lent plants." Among other things it will contain "a Botanical 

 List of all known Cacti and Succulent Plants, with their synonyms, 

 native countries, discoveries, and other particulars, and a portion 

 will be given in each number, until every genera [sic] , species, 

 and variety known to botanists and horticulturists has been fully 

 exhausted." Judging from the instalment of this list in the present 

 number, ifc will hardly merit the term botanical : it begins thus — 



"Cereus Acutangulus, Brazil, Hort. Berol. 



" C. Alacroportanus, Brazil, Pfeiff. 



"C. Albispinus (s. Pilocereus Albispinus and Landbeckii), Chili, 



Salm. 

 "0. Atroperpureus [sic] , West Indies. 

 "C. Azurens [sic] , Chili, Parm." 



The editor says : " Those in italics should be classed with the genera 

 in brackets, in our opinion"; but as he does not give his name, it 

 is not easy to determine whether his views on classification are 

 more worthy of consideration than his practice in spelling, which 

 throughout the number is hardly in accordance with precedent. 

 "Professor Luis Murillo," who, we gather from his advertisement 

 on the cover, is a Vera Cruz dealer in cacti, contributes an exciting 

 account of a night adventure in Mexico, when he was nearly 

 suffocated by the "queer, and to a certain extent agreeable odour" 



