1898] NOTES AND COMMENTS 81 
cultivating a great many kinds, also came to the conclusion that a 
majority of the published species were merely varietal forms, and 
that the number which botanists would hold as good species would 
be very small. Dr Sturtevant recently gave the whole of his material, 
including herbarium-specimens, drawings, and notes to the Missouri 
Garden on condition of the ultimate publication of the results of 
further study in the form of a monograph. This has now been done 
by Mr Ivish, who has confirmed Dr Gray’s suggestion as to the 
existence of but two species. One, Capsicum annuum, is herbaceous 
or shghtly shrubby, and of annual or biennial duration ; the other, C 
Srutescens, is ashrubby perennial. The former is responsible for the 
great majority of the cultivated forms, which are distinguished by 
characters based mainly on the shape, size, and erect or pendent 
position of this fruit, and in the form of the calyx. Many of the 
forms are depicted in the twenty-one plates which accompany the 
monograph. 
Among the other papers are a revision of the American duck- 
weeds (Lemnaceae) by C. H. Thompson, and notes on a willow, Salix 
longipes, from the South-Eastern States, by Dr Glatfelter, both of 
which have been previously issued. There are also notes on species . 
of Agave, Cactus and Yucca by various authors, and a list of Crypto- 
gams collected by Mr A. 8. Hitchcock in the Bahamas, Jamaica, and 
Grand Cayman. Among the last mentioned plants Mr J. B, Ellis finds 
fourteen species of fungi belonging to the group Pyrenomycetes, of 
which nine arenew. A fungoid disease which had attacked the leaves 
of certain palms belonging to the same genus as the date (Phoenix) is 
described by Professor Saccardo as caused by a new species. 
In addition to the five plates which refer to the Garden, there 
are fifty to illustrate the various scientific papers. 
WASTED WEALTH 
It is often the case, even in these days of technical education, that 
for want of a little elementary knowledge the wealth which lies at 
our feet is entirely overlooked. A remarkable instance of this is 
furnished by the chemical manure factories of Lincoln. These supply 
a large proportion of the artificial manures used in the kingdom, yet 
the whole of these commodities are manufactured out of imported 
material. A well-informed writer in the Lincolnshire Chronicle has 
lately pointed out that all the expenses of importation might be saved. 
“Tn view of the great stores of mineral phosphates that lie in 
the rocks on which Lincoln city is built, it is,” he says, “ inexplicable 
that our factors should go to the trouble and expense of bringing in 
all this foreign material. For those interested in this subject a visit 
to Handley’s Brickyard, just below Swan’s Pit, will prove a valuable 
object lesson. Interstratified with what are known as the Marlstone 
