182 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



while Flora Suecica, eel. 2, p. 172, says tliey are " subtus villosa 

 mollia viriclia." Anything more unlike B. rusticamis in foliage 

 can hardly be conceived. — H. J. Riddlesdell. 



A Correction. — On p. 25 the locality for Eriophyes ononidis 

 (on Ononis rejpens) is given as " Southampton." This is an error. 

 I sent the specimen to Mr. Swanton, but omitted to give the 

 locality whence I had it. It should be " Peveril Cliffs, Swanage." 

 — J. F. Rayner. 



BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, &c. 



At the meeting of the Linnean Society on May 4th Mr. E. A. 

 Bunyard read a paper on " The Origin of the Garden Red Currant." 

 He stated that until recently the Red Currant was regarde3 as 

 descended from B. rubrum. Janczewski, however, showel in 

 1907 that B. vulgare of Lamarck was the species chiefly concerned : 

 in his collection of garden varieties 44 were derived from B. vul- 

 gare, 1 from B. 23etrcBum, and 4 from B. ruhrum ; 3 of these 

 last were unnamed varieties from Lithuanian gardens. Mr. 

 Bunyard has collected 70 varieties from Europe and America, 

 and considers Janczewski has undervalued the importance of B, 

 ruhrum. The influence of B. ijetrmim can also be traced in many 

 varieties. The Red Currant has been cultivated from the early 

 fifteenth century, and was at first pure B. vulgare ; for 100 

 years no variations were recorded. B. petrmcm was introduced 

 into gardens in 1561 by Konrad Gesner, and a few years after 

 Camerarius mentions the "old" red and a now variety " baccis 

 rubris majoribus." B. ruhrum seems to have come into Currant 

 history at a later date. A large fruited variety, called by Janc- 

 zewski B. vulgare macrocarpum, was introduced in 1840 and is 

 considered by him a mutation or giant form of B. vulgare. The 

 origin of this variety is uncertain, but neither in size of fruit nor 

 in other characters does it exceed forms of B. petrceum which have 

 been found wild. Mr. Bunyard considers that inter-hybridisation 

 of the three species — B. vulgare, B. ruhrum, and B. petrceum — 

 is sufficient to account for the numerous varieties of the Red 

 Currant as grown in gardens to-day, and the supposed effects of 

 cultivation need not in this case be invoked. Mr. F. N. Williams, 

 from his own recent study of the British forms, supported Mr. 

 Bunyard 's conclusions. 



At the same meeting Dr. J. C. Willis discussed the subject of 

 the Dispersal of Organisms, as illustrated by the Floras of Ceylon 

 and New Zealand. He stated that in two recent papers on the 

 flora of Ceylon, and in a forthcoming one on the flora of New 

 Zealand, he had brought forward conclusions on geographical distri- 

 bution which, if accepted, will remove that subject from the imme- 

 diate realm of evolution, and show that it may be largely studied 

 by arithmetical methods. Once a species is evolved, its distribution 

 depends upon causes which act mechanically. As all families and 

 genera behave alike, it seems to him that one cause only must be 



