REPORT FOR 1914 OF THE BOTANICAL EXCHANGE CLUB 93 



of C. flava caused much confusion among British botanists, the 

 effects of which have not yet ceased. The fact is C. Oederi has 

 almost as close relation with extensa as it has with flava, and is a 

 good species distinct from both. The more usual state is a very 

 small plant especially fond of the gravelly margins of pools and 

 lochs, but in our calcareous fen areas this robust plant occurs. — 

 G. C. Druce. 



Deyeuxia neglecta Kunth, var. scotica. Loch Watton, Caithness, 

 July, 1907. This has more acuminate glumes and is the plant 

 which was recorded as strigosa by Mr. Arthur Bennett in Journ. 

 Bot. 1885, p. 253. I went to visit Dick's locality for the plant 

 which was called la^ponica in Smiles' Life of Bohert Dick, and 

 found only this form growing there. Afterwards I saw it near 

 Loch Scarmclett. It really approaches strigosa in appearance, but 

 does not agree with it in the length of the callus hairs, which are 

 of the length of the floret in strigosa, which has also a broader and 

 laxer panicle. D. strigosa, Prof. Hackel thinks, is probably a 

 hybrid of epigeios and neglecta, and he is quite confident in 

 rejecting these as strigosa. It is sufficiently distinct from normal 

 neglecta to warrant a varietal name, var. scotica, characterised as 

 " Panicles larger and more diffuse than type, glumes longer, and 

 more longly acuminate." — G. C. Druce. 



The Mycetozoa and Some Questions which they Suggest. By the 

 Rt. Hon. Sir Edward Fry and Agnes Fry. 2nd edition. 

 London : Simpkin Marshall. 8vo, pp. 99, 22 figs. Is. net. 



About ten years ago, the present writer, then beginning the 

 study of Botany, had lent to him the first edition of this small 

 book by a friend who has since writ his name large in the study 

 of British plants. It is rare to encounter a popular work on any 

 scientific subject that is worth reading, but this small book is an 

 exception. A vivid description of the life-history of Myxomycetes 

 is given — one of the most fascinating of life-cycles and at the 

 same time one of the most puzzling to systematists. The 

 questions suggested to the mind of one of the leading legal 

 intellects of this country include some of the biological problems 

 which have at times given all scientific workers material for 

 thought. In such small compass it is not possible for the 

 authors to develop matters very far, and in some cases different 

 answers to the riddles have been, or could be given. For instance, 

 " the fundamental character of the fact of species " is not im- 

 pressed upon us by Falkenberg's experiments with Cidteria 

 adspersa and C. multifida when w^e remember that specific and 

 even bigeneric hybrids exist in the plant kingdom. 



The authors attempt to popularise the name " myxies " : in 

 one case at least such an expression as " endosporous myxie " is 

 used, which seems somewhat like swallowing a morphological 

 camel and refusing a systematic gnat. " Myxos " is the abbre- 

 viated form most commonly used : "creepies" is the name most 

 often given by those who collect the species in the field : " shme 

 mould " is an American innovation. 



