April 5, 1900] 



NA TURE 



537 



zone. Yet in many parts this growth appears to be 

 recent. Near Osorno great trees were found growing in 

 deserted gold workings of the present century, and an 

 old Indian woman remembered the time when there were 

 no trees and the guanacos (which do not inhabit forests 

 and now keep to the eastern side of the Cordillera) used 

 to come down from the mountains to the pastures where 

 all is now grown with timber. On Chiloe and the islands 

 and coasts further south the forest seems to be primeval. 

 The great trees are smothered by long slender canes 

 and creepers, and every branch drips with a rich variety of 

 moss and ferns, while the bird-life is of remarkable variety 

 and beauty. On the coast, where the trees come down to 

 the very edge of the sea, the tropical humming-bird and 

 pelican may be seen together with the penguin of the 

 antarctic. The water-fowl of the rivers, many of which 

 are quite overgrown with forest trees rooted in the midst 

 of the permanent stream, are equally varied. Mr. Smith 

 has much to say of the quetru or steamer-duck, so-called 

 from its curious stroke like the action of a paddle steamer, 

 a bird with a head like an anvil and a skin so tough that 

 it can hardly be penetrated by shot. 



The fish, and still more the edible molluscs, of the rivers 

 and coasts are referred to very frequently, but from the 

 economic rather than the scientific point of view. There 

 are oysters of good quality, but the gigantic mussels of 

 several species are more sought after. These, as well as 

 limpets and other " shell-fish," are dried in immense 

 quantities, and strung together like onions find their way 

 over the whole of Chile, being much esteemed as food. 



As to the colonists who are struggling to clear the 

 forests and form homes in that land of perpetual cloud, 

 Mr. Smith gives the first place for thrift, cheerfulness and 

 ingenuity to the French ; the Germans have established 

 themselves firmly as the commercial and manufacturing 

 people of southern Chile ; but although many capable and 

 prosperous British settlers were met with, the attitude of 

 the author towards the bulk of his countrymen in Chile is 

 that of the candid friend who recognises room for im- 

 provement rather than matter for praise. 



Hugh Robert Mill. 



RECENT PUBLICATIONS FROM KEW. 



List of Published Names of Plants introduced to Culti- 

 vation^ 1 876- 1 896. Kew Bulletin of Miscellaneous 

 Information. Additional series iv. Pp. ix -{- 410. 

 (London : Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1900.) 



Hand-List of Tender Dicotyledons cultivated in the 

 Royal Gardens, Kew. Pp. xxx -f- 691. (Kew : Royal 

 Gardens, 1899.) 



WHEN a collection of dried plants is received from 

 any quarter, there is generally na particular 

 necessity for naming them at once. Time can be ex- 

 pended in sorting, examining and naming the speci- 

 mens. 



It is otherwise with cultivated plants. These are for 

 the most part introduced by the nurserymen ; and when 

 it suits their purpose to launch them into commerce, a 

 name must be given to them at once. 



To the credit of the great nursery firms, it may be 

 stated that they do endeavour to ascertain, from Kew or 

 elsewhere, the true name of the plant they are about to 

 NO. 1588, VOL. 61] 



" send out." Very often, most often, perhaps, the 

 material sent for investigation is not sufficient for the 

 purpose. Years, it may be, may elapse before a par- 

 ticular plant flowers and reveals its identity. 



It is obvious that the business man cannot wait. The 

 only course left to him, therefore, is to adopt a conjectural 

 or a provisional name. Long experience in handling plants 

 often enables the plantsman to make conjectures, which 

 afterwards prove to be correct. In other cases, where 

 there is no obvious clue, a provisional name is adopted. 

 The abbreviation " hort." is, or should be, appended in 

 such cases when writing the name, in order to avoid 

 unnecessary trouble to the student and monographer. 



Natural hybrids are not unfrequently imported, especi- 

 ally among orchids, and these have to be named accord- 

 ing to their presumed parentage. 



Not unfrequently the guess of the importer is borne 

 out by the skill of the cultivator, who, by impregnating 

 the flowers of one species with the pollen of another, 

 gives rise to a hybrid corresponding with that produced 

 naturally. Such hybrids, natural or artificial, are gener- 

 ally honoured with specific names in Latin, but differen- 

 tiated by the addition of a X. 



Nowadays, the number of species introduced by collec- 

 tors is, at any rate, relatively much smaller than it used 

 to be. Nevertheless, the aggregate of so-called " new 

 plants " is much larger. 



Of late years, too, new forms have been obtained in 

 great abundance, either by selection or by cross-breeding, 

 and these new forms require to be named. It is among 

 the secondary hybrids and selected " strains " of partic- 

 ular species that we get the names which afford amuse- 

 ment to the public, and which, moreover, indicate what 

 is occupying the public mind. Of late, we have seen 

 plants named in honour of Lord Roberts and other 

 South African heroes ; whilst, as if to show the cosmo- 

 politanism of horticulture, the names of President Kruger 

 and General Cronje have not been wanting from the 

 labels of plants exhibited before the Royal Horticultural 

 Society. 



The personal authority for the names has been uni- 

 formly omitted from the book whose title stands at the 

 head of this notice, as it was found in too many cases 

 impossible to assign it with certainty. We may acqui- 

 esce in this omission, but we demur to the further 

 statement that " the reference given is to the publication 

 in which the plant is first described or figured." Take, 

 for instance, on the first page, Abies brachyphylla. The 

 reference given is to the Revue Horticole ; whilst Abies 

 Eichleri is attributed to the Florist and Pomologist. 

 Both these plants were described elsewhere prior to their 

 publication in the periodicals mentioned ; and so with a 

 large number of others. 



It is, of course, very desirable that all names be 

 duly registered. Some of them are important to the 

 botanist, others to the physiologist, and others more 

 particularly to the gardener. A tribute of recognition is 

 due from each of these groups of workers to the author- 

 ities of the Royal Gardens, Kew, for the compilation of 

 the volume before us, and to the Government for giving it 

 publicity. Without attempting to gauge the scientific 

 value of the names, the compilers have searched the 

 records in the horticultural Press and tabulated them in 



