150 NATURAL SCIENCE. FeB., 1893. 
one or two exceptions, it may be added on the shores of Britain. 
The plates are photographic reproductions of dried and mounted 
specimens, and are printed in appropriate colours (green, brown, and 
red). They will certainly be a greater help to the student of sea- 
weeds, after these have been dried, than to the student of them who 
begins by trying to name the plants fresh from the pools. This is inevi- 
table, however, and nearly every botanist has had the experience of 
being utterly puzzled by a plant in the field or garden which, on 
being dried, has revealed itself as an old herbarium friend. The 
text consists of excellent directions for collecting and preparing 
specimens, and of short and good descriptions of the Alge figured, 
with a glossary of the few unavoidable scientific terms used. M. 
Hariot is a phycologist of distinction, and has brought accuracy and 
good sense to his task. Though the plates are not things of beauty, 
they are sufficient for their purpose, and the choice of species figured 
is good, in the greatest number of cases, for Britain. It will prove 
useful to beginners in this country who are familiar with French. 
ENGLISH Botany. Supplement to the Third Edition. Part III. (Orders xxvi.—xl. 
Compiled and illustrated by N. E. Brown. London: George Bell & Sons, 1892. 
Price 5s. 
Parts I. and II. of this Supplement have already been noticed; Part 
III. brings us to the end of Dipsacez, and includes also the remainder 
of Rosacee, Onagraceze, Cucurbitacee, Crassulacee, Saxifragacee, 
Umbellifere, Rubiaceze and Valerianacee. Mr. Brown’s connection 
with the work ceases with the present number, its completion falling to 
the lot of Mr. Arthur Bennett. With Part III. is published the preface, 
in which the scope of the work and the rules adopted in nomenclature 
are explained ; no authorities for genera are accepted that date farther 
back than the year 1735, when Linnzus published the first edition of 
his ‘‘Systema Nature.” Authorities for species do not date farther 
back than 1753, when Linneus established the binomial system in the 
first edition of his “Species Plantarum.” ‘It seems an act of gross 
folly,” says the writer, ‘to apply the binomial system—as has been 
attempted in America—to dates before that system was in existence,” 
and we heartily agree with him. 
We also commend the expression of his view on the hybrid- 
making epidemic. No less than seven and twenty names follow the 
genus Epilobium; they are headed ‘‘ Hybrids?” and ‘‘are supposed 
to be natural hybrids, and are considered as being intermediate in 
character between their supposed parents.” The differences, how- 
ever, “between the supposed hybrid and the species it most resem- 
bles being no greater and sometimes not as great as may often be 
found between individuals in a bed of seedlings from one plant.’”’ Mr. 
Brown sees no use in inserting in our floras descriptions of such 
plants. Coloured plates are given of Pyrus rotundifolia var. decipiens, 
P. intermedia, P. pinnatifida, P. semi-pinnata, P. cordata, and Silenum 
curvifolia. 
Messrs. WiLL1amM Wes tery & Son have issued a list of the tran- 
sactions of Scientific Societies, Periodicals, and Serials, including a 
nearly complete enumeration of the various scientific journals that 
have at different times been published in Britain. It is interesting 
to note how few of those devoted to popular exposition have survived 
for more than two or three years. 
