1869.] Botany and Vegetable Phijsiology. 265 



form — an old age of the race, as of tlie individual — wlien accord- 

 ingly hermaphrodite fertilization becomes inefficient, and it becomes 

 necessary tlit the sexual elements of distinct races should be com- 

 bined to ensure the continuation of the species. 



The Botany of the Malvern Hills. — Such spots as the Malvern 

 Hills are peculiarly interesting to the botanist as well as to the 

 geologist, and it is because they have sj^ecial geological features 

 that they present special botanical developm-^n^-s. The supposed 

 igneous or metamorphic axis of the Malvern anticlinal carries with 

 it a certain peculiarity of vegetation which is not met with in the 

 immediately surrounding country, and, in addition to this, the 

 height of the Hills has rendered them the refuge for Alpine forms 

 when the Straits of Malvern flowed over the Severn valley. Mr. 

 Edwin Lees, the Vice-President of the Malvern Field Club, has 

 brought out the third edition of his little book on the flora of this 

 district, which must be of great service to those who wish to 

 explore the range and make the acquaintance of its botanical 

 rarities, A sketch of the geology and physical geography of the 

 range is also given, which appears to be considered — and very 

 rightly — a necessary accompaniment of a local flora in these days. 

 It is not only, however, by giving the two sets of facts, the bo- 

 tanical and geological, that the students of local floras should set 

 forth the important connection of the two studies, but by tracing 

 out in detail and completely the history of a flora as influenced by 

 geological changes and the nature of the soil. To do this well 

 requires great study and much extended observation. Mr. Lees 

 unfortunately uses the Linnasan system, which really diminishes 

 the value of his book. A special feature of interest in the volume 

 is the recognition of the cryptogamic species, which often are passed 

 over in silence in handbooks and pocket floras. Mr. Lees is a well- 

 Imown student of these forms, and his account of them may be 

 considered the most valuable part of his ' Botany of the Malvern 

 Hills.' 



Tlie Malvales. — Dr. Maxwell Masters having carefully examined 

 the relations of the families IMalvacere, Stercuhacefe, and Tiliaceas of 

 Bentham's and Hooker's Cohors VI., has arrived at the con- 

 clusion that though it may be desirable for convenience sake to 

 separate the two former from each other, yet they are so closely 

 related morphologically, that it is not J30ssible to understand the 

 peculiar structural relations of the one without comparing them 

 with the corresponding parts of the others. Dr. Masters considers 

 the stamens as organs of the highest importance in classification. 

 " Not only," he says, " does the connection of the stamens furnish 

 one of the best characters of the entire group, but even in the 

 discrimination of the smaller sub-divisions (genera) the appearances 

 presented by the column are of the greatest value." 



