70 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



it has now become rare, partly owing to sheep, w^hich feed on its 

 leaves, and partly to pigs, which root up and devour the fleshy 

 rhizomes. 



Calceolaria Sinclairii is interesting as representing a genus 

 — Fuchsia is another — found only in South America and New 

 Zealand, forming a striking proof of the relationship of the two 

 floras. Ten of the numerous and characteristic endemic Veronicas 

 are represented, including the remarkable V. tetrarjona and V. 

 cupressoides, in which the branchlets mimic, as it were, those of a 

 cypress : V. tetragona was actually figured in mistake for a 

 Podocarpus ; V. lycopodioides has much the aspect of several 

 lycopods with oppressed scale-like leaves ; V. salicornioides was 

 named on account of the likeness of its branchlets to those of a 

 species of Salicornia. 



A very full description, an amplification of that given in the 

 Mammal, is given of the remarkable Dactylanthus Taylori 

 (Balanophoraceas) . 



Hoviolanthus polyandrus (Euphorbiacea^) is only known from 

 Eaoul (or Sunday) Island, where it is now restricted to a few 

 localities inaccessible to goats, who eat the bark as high as they 

 can reach it, thus causing the death of the tree. 



The longest description in the work is that of the " Kauri " 

 [Agathis australis), to which seven pages are devoted. The 

 remarkable appearance of the forests is described, wnth their 

 associated vegetation ; various considerations lead to the conclu- 

 sion : " May we not reasonably surmise that the Kauri forests 

 which clothed the north of New Zealand at the beginning of the 

 Pleistocene period were very similar in composition and appear- 

 ance to those now living ? Proof of this supposition may not be 

 obtainable at the present time, but there are many indications to 

 support it." 



Among Monocotyledons the numerous figures of terrestrial 

 orchids are of special interest, while those of Carex and other 

 Cyperaceae, and of Grasses, are exceedingly useful. The vascular 

 Cryptogams are represented by seventeen ferns and a Lycopodium. 



As an appendix is given a list of illustrations which appeared 

 prior to the book, followed by an excellent general index. It 

 remains to be said that the book is admirably printed, the typo- 

 graphical arrangements leaving nothing to be desired. It is 

 suitably bound, and lies open flat on the table — it is, in fact, in 

 every way creditable to all w^ho have been concerned in its 

 production. 



BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, dc. 



De. Edward Gillett Gilbert was born at Harleston, 

 Norfolk, on March 12, 1849, to which county his ancestors had 

 removed from Yorkshire in the sixteenth century. He studied 

 medicine at Leeds, and afterwards came to London, where he had 

 a large practice, from which he retired in 1895 and took up his 



