32 BOTANICAL NEWS. 
BOTANICAL NEWS. 
Tire years haying elapsed since a Committee vras appointed to administer the 
Eoyal Society Rehef Fund, the first Report of the Committee has been printed, 
with a list of subscriptions received. The subscriptions to the Fund are 
invested without any deductions, and consequently the total sum applicable at 
any time for relief is limited to the balance in hand arising from the amount of 
dividends previously received, No appHcation for relief is entertained except 
on the recommendation of the President of the Astronomical, Chemical, Geo- 
graphical, Geological, Linnean, or Royal Society ; it being understood that the 
several Presidents will consult their respective Councils as to the persons whom 
they intend to recommend for rehef. It foimed no part of the scheme to 
attempt the grant of annuities ; it was rather intended to afford prompt relief 
of the immediate wants of those upon whom sudden affliction had fallen ; 
although at the same time it in no way debarred a continuation of such relief 
being given, should the funds admit thereof. On the 19th March, I860, sub- 
scriptions to the amount of £3204. 14*. had been received, and invested in 
£3351. 7^. 6d. New Three per Cents. "In 1860 there was only one applicant 
for reUef ; a sum was voted, but in consequence of the applicant's sudden 
decease, the cheque was subsequently returned. In 1861 there were six appli- 
cants, to five of whom relief was afforded. In 1862 there were four applicants, 
of whom three were relieved. In 1863 there were five apphcants, of whom four 
were relieved. In 1864 there were two applicants ; both were relieved. The 
total amount thus expended has been £460 ; and there still remains £233. 1^. lid. 
applicable for relief, exclusive of £17. 2,9., subscriptious to be invested. The 
economical principle on which this Fund was originally founded has been 
strictly carried out. At this time there appears a balance someM-hat larger than 
usual, but this arises from there having been only two applicants this year in- 
stead of five, as in 1863, It is vei-y probable that if the existence of such a 
Fund were more generally tnown, further subscriptions, payable to Messrs. 
Robarts, Lubbock, and Co., banters, Lombard Street, or to Mr. Walter White, 
at Burlington House, would be tendered. 
Mr. James Britten, 18, Shawfield Street, Chelsea, London, who is collecting 
notes for a Flora of Buckinghamshire, will be much obliged to any of our 
readers who can furnish him with information on the botany of that county. 
' Icones Muscorum ' is the title of a new work on eastern North American 
Mosses which have heretofore not been figured, by W. S. Sullivant (London : 
Triibner and Co.). It contains 129 copper-plates, illustrating 130 species. 
Dr. Ascherson has returned from a botanical tour to the Carpathian Moun- 
tams. M. Bourgeau will be attached to a French scientific expedition to 
Mexico. 
The second part of Dr. Bolle*s 'Feims of the Canary Islands,* and the con- 
cluding part of I>r. Thwaites's * Enumeration of Ceylon Plants,* are now ready. 
F. Miiller's * Vegetation of the Chatham Islands,' and Wichura's ^Bastardbe- 
fruchtung im Pflanzenreich,' have reached us. 
