344 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



pellier, of which, and of the plant, Dr. Stapf gives an interesting 

 account in No. 8 of the Kew Bulletin for the current year. 



A WRITER in Tlie Selborne Magazine for October has recently 

 discovered the List of British Seed Plants, with somewhat 

 amusing results. She suggests that " those who have not 

 yet corrected their Bentham [by this List] should at once 

 proceed to do so " ; this we fear would not be as easy as the 

 writer seems to suppose ; moreover the List itself now stands 

 in need of correction. " Some of the [altered names] are rather 

 overpowering : with the present tendency to clip and contract 

 all long words, shall we reconcile ourselves easily to call our 

 Water-cress Badicula nasturtium aquatica {sic) and so on. She 

 seems to have an odd notion of the principles which govern 

 nomenclature. " Can we learn to accept the Eed Valerian as 

 Kentranthus — and Blackstonia, for the Yellow- Wort, is certainly 

 less euphonious than Chlora ; Junij^erus siberica (sic) and 

 Ammophila haltica we welcome, the altered specific throwing 

 light on the plant's geographical distribution." The rest of the 

 note is on similar lines. 



The twentieth annual fungus foray of the British Mycological 

 Society was held at Lyndhurst in the New Forest, on September 

 25-30. The excursions were all in the neighbourhood of head- 

 quarters. Many rare fungi were noted, the larger sx:)ecies of 

 Clavaria being particularly well represented. In the absence of 

 of the president, Mr. E. W. Swanton, the chair was taken by the 

 immediate past president, Mrs. Eea. Miss A. Lorrain Smith 

 w^as elected president for next year and Miss G. Lister and Mr. 

 Eea were re-elected respectively as vice-president and secretary 

 and treasurer. It is satisfactory that the affairs of the Society 

 should be in such experienced hands at such a time as this, as it 

 is essential that its work, which has so many economic applica- 

 tions, should be carried on with vigour. Mr. Swanton's presi- 

 dential address was on " Education in Mycology," and dealt 

 with the efforts made in our Colonies and in various countries 

 to spread the knowledge of fungi. Dr. W. I. Elliott described 

 some observations on the plasmodium of Badhamia. Dr. 

 Somerville Hastings gave an account of the eating of fungi by 

 rodents, slugs, etc., and Mr. J. Eamsbottom read a x^^-per on 

 •' Education in Plant Pathology." This paper, which was a 

 contribution to a discussion at the British Association, dealt 

 with the lack of proper training of plant pathologists and insisted 

 on the_ necessity of such training : the writer suggested that 

 the universities might issue diplomas in economic mycology, 

 and that a central laboratory and experimental station should 

 be instituted for research and for the final training of men who 

 were to take up pathological posts. Mr. Eamsbottom also read 

 a paper on the history of the Ustilaginales, tracing this from 

 Theophrastus to the present day. The foray in 1917 will be 

 held at Shrewsbury. 



