BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, ETC. 215 



and increasing in running water near Sticklepatb, in the neigh- 

 bourliood of Okehampton, on the borders of Dartmoor. Sir David 

 Prain remarked that this plant in cultivation seems to have quite 

 lost its original musky scent, and that it would be interesting to 

 know if this escape had retained it. 



In connection with the recent twenty-first congress of the 

 South-Eastern Union of Scientific Societies, which was held at 

 Tunbridge Wells where the Union originated, a hand-book, 

 entitled Tiuihridge Wells and Neighbourhood, has been published 

 (Pelton, Tunbridge Wells, price 2s. 6d.) under the editorship of 

 Mr. H. E. Knipe. Besides interesting chronicles of the town and 

 some archaeological matter, all branches of natural history are 

 dealt with. In the portion devoted to Palaeontology the editor 

 alludes to the Weald-Clay flora : the fungi recorded from the 

 neighbourhood are enumerated by Mr. W. T. Trollope, the 

 flowering-plants (without localities) and noteworthy trees by 

 Mrs. Stebbing, with a popular sketch of the flora of the seasons 

 by Mr. F. Eoberts, the Mycetozoa by Mr. W. E. Nicholson, and the 

 piant-galls by Mr. E. E. Hutchinson. Mrs. Stebbing notes that 

 the late Dr. Gilbert's collection of Bzibi has been presented to Kew. 



The recently issued part (5th S. i. part 3) of the Icones Plan- 

 tariim contains figures and descriptions of the following new 

 genera : Vappoholus Blake (Compositae, Helianthoideao) ; Dalzielia 

 Turrill (Asclepiadaceae Marsdeneae) ; CJiloachne Stapf and Uran- 

 thcecium Stapf. (Gramineoe Paniceae) ; Danthoniopsis Stapf (Gram- 

 inece Arundinelleas) ; and also of Mischopleura Wernham (Eri- 

 caceae Ehodoreas ?) ; Neoioollastonia Wernham (Apocynaceae 

 Plumericae): ^WoZo^/ift Eidley (Zingiberaceae, ZingibereaG). These 

 latter and numerous new species are cited from " Trans. Linn. 

 Soc. Ser. 2, vol. ix ined.," but as that volume has not yet appeared 

 the publication of all must date from their appearance in the 

 Icones — a fact likely to create confusion among future workers. 

 Many of the novelties form part of the valuable collection made 

 on Dr. A. E. E. WoUaston's expedition to Dutch New Guinea in 

 1912-13, a grant to the expenses of which was made by the Trustees 

 of the British Museum : the study-set of these is in the Depart- 

 ment of Botany. 



The Eeport for 1915 of the Botanical Society and Exchange 

 Club of the British Isles contains, in addition to the usual 

 number of records of casuals, new combinations and autobio- 

 graphical reminiscences, much of genuine interest. As to the 

 latter, it is useless to remonstrate with Mr. Druce, but we do 

 not think that even he has ever done anything more unjustifiable 

 than the restoration of Benthamia — expressly excluded, though 

 he does not mention this, by the list of " nomina rejicienda " 

 appended to the Eules of the Vienna Congress — in place of 

 Amsinckia, and creating 21 new combinations without any 

 indication that even one of the transferred species has been 

 examined by the combiner. The Eeport is as usual largely ego- 

 centric : it is, Mr. Druce tells us, his " own compilation " and 

 carries with it only his "personal authority," adding that "all 



