380 



sometimes more than £6 apiece. The plaiting of the hats is very 

 troublesome. It commences at the crown and finishes at the brim. 

 They are made on a block, which is placed on the knees, and requires 

 to be constantly pressed with the breast. According to their quality, 

 more or less time is occupied in their completion ; the coarser ones 

 may be finished in two or three days, the finest take as many months. 

 The best times for plaiting are the morning hours and the rainy sea- 

 son, when the air is moist ; in the middle of the day and in dry clear 

 weather the straw is apt to break, which when the hat is finished is 

 betrayed by knots, and much diminishes the value." 



I cannot conclude these interesting extracts from M. Seemann's 

 journals, without expressing my own thanks, and, I trust I may add, 

 those of botanists generally, to this distinguished traveller, for the vast 

 amount of valuable and highly interesting information he has so 

 laboriously collected, and is now so agreeably diffusing. I hope 

 that, before he again leaves Europe on a similar errand, he may com- 

 plete and publish a connected narrative of his travels and observa- 

 tions. I can scarcely imagine any work more acceptable to the 

 scientific public. 



Mr. Dalzell's paper contains descriptions of eight new species : 

 these are : — Utricularia decipiens and U. albo-caerulea, of the order 

 Lentibularieae ; Eriocaulon rivulare, E. odoratum, E. cuspidatum, and 

 E. pygmaeum, of the order Eriocaulese; Micropera maculata and M. 

 viridiflora, of the order Orchidese-vandeae. 



The papers in the October number are intituled : — 



' Catalogue of Mr. Geyer's Collection of Plants gathered in Upper 

 Missouri, the Oregon Territory, and the intervening portion of the 

 Rocky Mountains ; by Sir W. J. Hooker, D.C.L., F.R.A. and L.S.' 



' Florula Hongkongensis : an Enumeration of the Plants collected 

 in the Island of Hong-kong by Capt. J. G. Champion, 95th Reg. ; 

 the determinations revised and the new species described by George 

 Bentham, Esq.' 



' Figures and Descriptions of two Species of Boehmeria, of which 

 the fibre is extensively used in making cloth ; by Sir W. J. Hooker, 

 D.C.L., F.R.A. and L.S.' 



* Botanical Information :' — Advertisements of Algerian plants and 

 Professor Link's microscopes. 



Sir W. Hooker's account of plants gathered in the Upper Missouri, 

 &c., contains descriptions of six new species : these are : — Frasera 

 thyrsillora, of the order Geutianea) ; Gilia spicata, G. iberidifolia, and 



