374 THE JOURNAL OP BOTANY 



BOOK NOTES, NEWS, dx. 



Dr. C. H. Ostenfeld during his visit to West Australia 

 in 1914 made a careful study of the biology, ecology, and 

 taxonomic relations of the so-called " sea-grasses " — species of 

 Cymodocca, Diplanthera, and Posidonia in the family Potamoge- 

 tonaceae, and Halojjhila, a member of the Hydrocharidaceae. His 

 paper, which has been recently published (Dansh Botanisk Arkiv, 

 Bot. ii. No. 6, Sept., 1916), is in EngHsh and forms the first part 

 of a series of contributions to West Australian Botany. Dr. 

 Ostenfeld recognises three species of Cyviodocea, including a 

 new one, C. angustata. He does not follow Mr. Black in the 

 subdivision of the widely-spread C. antarctica into two species, 

 but regards these as merely representing ranges of variation. 

 The other species are Diijlanthera australis, found sparingly in 

 one locality, the common Posidonia australis, and the widely- 

 spread Haloi^hila ovalis. 



At the meeting of the Linnean Society, on November 2nd, a 

 paper was read by Mr. G. S. Boulger, entitled '• Early Chapters 

 in Plant Distribution," of which he sketched the first glimpses 

 in the works of Cardinal Bembo, M. de I'Obel, Sir Hans Sloane, 

 Dr. Christian Mentzel, and J. Pitton de Tournefort : the last has 

 enjoyed a reputation which his actual record as to plant distri- 

 bution does not deserve, believed to be the result of an early 

 misquotation from his ' Voyage du Levant.' The second chapter 

 was devoted to Linnaeus, whose Flora Laj^poiiica and several 

 theses in the Ammnitates Academics were brought forward in 

 support. Next followed Haller, J. G. Gmelin, Buffon, Forskal, 

 and C. L. Willdenow, with a brief allusion to P. A. Broussonet. 



Mr. Fisher Unwin has pubHshed A Hausa Botanical 

 Vocabulary (8vo. cloth, pp. 119, price 6s. 6cZ. net) by Dr. John M. 

 Dalziel, of the West African Medical Staff. We learn from the 

 wrapper — for the book contains no sort of introduction ! — that its 

 aim is to record the Hausa names of the common plants of 

 Northern Nigeria, with their scientific equivalents and a " brief 

 definition of the plant " : in many cases an indication of its uses 

 and products is added. Within the Hmits thus defined, the book, 

 which is admirably printed, seems to be very well done ; the 

 native names, however, are not translated, nor is there any 

 indication of the folk-lore which must assuredly be connected 

 with many of the plants. 



In the sixth volume of the Memoirs of the Neiu York Botanic 

 Garden, which contains the papers presented on the occasion 

 of the celebration (September, 1915) of the twentieth anniversary 

 of the establishment of the Garden, is an account of "A Botanical 

 Trip to- W. North Wales in June" — presumably of that year, 

 though this is not stated — by Mr. Arthur H. Graves, of the Con- 

 necticut College for Women. One of the things which impressed 

 him most was " the comparatively large number of indigenous 



