486 



charged against our present government in their selection of the re- 

 cently appointed Professor in Glasgow. 



No. 106. — " On the fructification of the genera Clathra and Phal- 

 lus," by M. Maurice Lespiault (translated from the * Annales des Sci- 

 ences Naturelles,' for July). " Journal through Java, descriptive of its 

 Topography and Natural History," by Dr. Fr. Junghunn (translated 

 from the ' Botanische Zeitung'). "Miscellaneous." 



No. 107. — "Remarks on some forms of Rubus," by T. Bell Salter, 

 M.D. " Anniversary Address of the President of the Linnean Soci- 

 ety." " On the existence of Tetraspores in a genus of Algge belong- 

 ing to the Zygnemata," by M. Montague. 



We would recommend Dr. Salter's introductory remarks on the un- 

 certainty of species in the genus Rubus : they are rather too long for 

 our space at present. Formerly Dr. Salter appeared in the character 

 of a describer of 7iew species ; when we half suspected him of in- 

 tending a little playful satire upon Messrs. Borrer and Babington, in 

 giving their names to two of his new species, with a third bearing the 

 significant name of " tenuis.'''' At any rate, intended or not intended, 

 he " hit the right nail on the head," for we have few botanists more 

 inclined to accept, if they do not make, new species on slender 

 grounds. In this number we have Dr. S. taking the side of the " lum- 

 pers," and swamping species in the most remorseless manner. 



"The ma-jority of the forms," writes Dr. S., " eighteen in number, 

 are of the value of varieties only, and where this is the case, it does 

 not appear needful to give any description of the character of the spe- 

 cies, but only of those points in which the variety differs from the 

 normal form. This applies to the first six plants ; for the description 

 of the species to which these belong, I would refer to Babington's 

 ' Manual.' The last two forms constitute a species which I have long 

 observed in the Isle of Wight ; and the ten intermediate ones, which 

 now appear grouped as three species, are plants about which the 

 greatest confusion has existed, both as to the number of species they 

 really constitute — each being by many held to be a species — and 

 also as to the naming of them, their names having been transposed 

 in almost every supposable change." The truth is, that no two bota- 

 nists agree (as far as our own opportunities go) in applying names to 

 Rubi, unless those who hunt in couples, or constantly exchange spe- 

 cimens, so that each may know what thing the other intends by any 

 given name. Even this pairing and comparing will not always suf- 

 fice, as we have seen proved experimentally. Nor is it likely it 

 should always prove sufficient for uniformity ; for the same botanist 



