328 BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, ETC. 



work is to some extent subsidized by the Cape Government, and a 

 second part is promised ; its continuance thereafter will depend 

 upon the amount of support received, which we hope will be 

 sufficient to render the undertaking permanent. No new species 

 are described, but a great many have never been previously figured. 

 The descriptions are in English, and in many instances include 

 interesting notes upon the local uses of the species described. The 

 preface, in which the purpose of the work is set forward, would 

 have been the better for a revision from a literary point of view ; 

 the editors express a hope that "a full Flora of Natal" will *' ere 

 long be published" — a hope which we trust will receive speedy 

 fulfilment. 



We learn from the Kew Bulletin that Sir Henry Collett is pre- 

 paring a flora of Simla and the district, which is to be illustrated by 

 200 figures in the text, from drawings by Miss Smith. The total 

 number of species included is estimated at about 1500. 



The "April and May" number of the Kew Bulletin, published 

 in June, contains a paper on the botany of the Ashanti Expedition 

 (1895-6) by Surgeon-Captain H. A. Cummins, in which six new 

 species are described and a new genus of Menispermaceae {FJwpal- 

 andria Stapf) is established. So many African plants are now 

 published almost simultaneously that it is important to call atten- 

 tion to the fact that the ostensible date of publication of the Kew 

 Bulletin is systematically inaccurate, and that the only approxi- 

 mation to accuracy is to be found in the Stationery Office date at 

 the foot of the first page of each issue. 



We are glad to learn that steady progress is being made with 

 the Flora of Kent, which is now in type as far as Sambucus. 



The June part (No. 3) of the Notes from the Botanical School 

 of Trinity College, Dublin, contains two papers on transpiration and 

 a paper on rhizoids of Lunularia cruciata by Dr. H. H. Dixon, and a 

 note by Prof. Perceval Wright on the occurrence of ^^ Cyclaminus 

 persica'' in North Africa : no reason is given for the adoption of this 

 form of the name. 



The first instalment of Durand & Schinz's Conspectus Florce 

 Africa (Rauunculaceae — Frankeniaceae) has appeared. We hope to 

 notice it later. 



In his "Notes on Cambridgeshire Plants" in the last number 

 of this Journal, Mr. W. West, jun., refers to the existence of an 

 annotated copy of Babington's Flora of Cambrichjeshire, which the 

 late Professor kept in what really was his private room at the 

 Cambridge Herbarium. There students ^vere at liberty to consult 

 it. This copy is now in Mrs. Babington's possession ; and in a 

 letter she expresses her willingness to help any students of the 

 Cambridgeshire flora by still allowing them to consult it. Any 

 who wish to do so should write to her at 5, Brookside, Cambridge. 



