Xovk\ii:i;k 



1005] 



NA TURE 



1 5 



the whole, with great judgment. The- work is pro- 

 fessedly a compilation, but it is a compilation by one 

 who knows the subject. It would perhaps have been 

 to ) much to expect that independent opinion on the 

 many matters discussed should have been expressed, 

 hjt we are at least put in possession of many views 

 in an interesting and read:!)!' form. The work 

 should be reid by r.l! advanced students of chemistrv. 



VV. R.' 



THE KEW INDEX OF FLOWERING PLANTS. 



Index Kewensis Plantarum Phanerogam-arum; Suy- 

 plementum Secundum, nomina ct synonyma 

 omnium generum et specierum ab initio anni 

 MDCCCXCVI usque ad finem anni MDCCCC 

 complectcns. Ductu et consilio W. T. Thiselton- 

 Dyer confecerunt herbarii horti regii botanici 

 Kewensis curatores. Keucocoryne-Zygostates et 

 emendanda addenda. Pp. 105-204. (Oxford : 

 Clarendon Press, 1905.) Price 12s. net. 



THE second and concluding part of supplement ii. 

 of the " Index Kewensis " follows quickly on 

 the first. This means that we now have a list of 

 the names and synonyms of genera and species of 

 flowering plants published from the foundation of 

 binominal nomenclature to the end of 1900 — complete 

 except for a serious gap in supplement i. represent- 

 ing the last third of the alphabet for the years 1886- 

 1S95. Three parts of the first supplement appeared 

 between September, 1901, and November, 1903; the 

 fourth is therefore much overdue. Its delav is the 

 more to be regretted as the period with which it is 

 concerned was one of considerable activity in 

 systematic botany, including, for example, the great 

 development of the Berlin school under Dr. Engler's 

 direction. It is to be hoped that the completion of 

 this portion of the work, for which Kew is not re- 

 sponsible, will soon be announced. 



The best way to appreciate the Kew index is to 

 call to mind the time before its appearance, when 

 getting at the origin of a name meant often a long 

 book-hunt, and sometimes a remarkable revelation of 

 the wonderful and remote places in which it was 

 possible to publish names, such, for instance, as the 

 Melbourne Chemist and Druggist, in which, if we 

 remember rightly, some species were published bv 

 the late Baron von Mueller. These literary researches 

 were often extremely interesting, but thev were not 

 botany, and a failure by some botanists to realise their 

 importance often caused worry and inconvenience to 

 subsequent workers. In passing, we may note a 

 feature of the index to which reference was made at 

 the conference on nomenclature at Vienna last June. 

 It was pointed out that the list of names of genera 

 which a large majority of members agreed must be 

 retained, even though they were not the earliest pub- 

 lished names, departed very little from the names 

 recognised in the index — it might even have been 

 possible to have taken the index as a starting point. 



The present number makes quite interesting read- 

 ing, for it marks in a striking way the progress of 

 systematic botany during the five years under con- 

 NO. 1882, VO] . 7 3I 



sideration. Africa, especially tropical Africa, has 

 afforded much material for work, as evidenced by 

 parts of the Kew Floras, the catalogue of Dr. 

 VVelwitsch's Angolan plants, and other publications 

 in this country; and the numerous papers on African 

 botany issued from Berlin. The completion of the 

 " Flora of British India " is chronicled by numerous 

 cil itii .is in various genera of grasses; and there is also 

 ample indication of the activity of North American 

 botanists in working out their flora. Here and there 

 is evidence of an important monograph, as that of 

 Bromeliaceas by Dr. Mr/, or of Monimiaceae bv Miss 

 Perkins, in a list of new species, combinations or 

 reductions. Some entries under a quaint or unfamiliar 

 name form a record of antiquarian research and love 

 of priority; such, for instance, are those under 

 Sitanion, a name of Rafinesque which antedates the 

 well known Elymus ; these names are promptly re- 

 duced to synonymy. It is, however, not always so 

 easy to follow the reductions. For instance, American 

 botanists seem generally agreed that Lewisia, a genus 

 founded by Pursh, must be restored for certain species 

 of Calandrinia; but the index quotes them onlv as 

 synonyms, referring them back to Calandrinia. In 

 looking down the columns one is struck by the large 

 numb r of pergonal species-names, which seems to 

 indicate a want of imagination on the part of some 

 authors; thus nineteen out of forty-two new species 

 of Polygala, and thirteen of twenty-two of Lissochiius, 

 have names recalling the person who first collected 

 or was in some way or other associated with the 

 plant. A few omissions might be noted, though that 

 has probably been done already by those concerned. 

 A curious citation is given, under Peperomia and 

 Panicum, of two species from Dr. Andrews's Christ- 

 mas Island monograph. 



In conclusion, we would express the hope that the 

 record of the next five years, now marly ended, may 

 be available at as short an interval as possible. 



A. B. R. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 

 Sugar and the Sugar Cane. Bv Noel Deerr. Pp. 



viii + 395 + xix. (Altrincham : Norman Rodger, 



1905.) Price ys. bd. net. 

 So many effects have already been ascribed by poli- 

 ticians and journalists to the Brussels Sugar Con- 

 vention, that one hesitates to add to its account the 

 recent large output of sugar-cane literature in this 

 country, but there can be little doubt that the brighter 

 prospects which the Convention seemed to promise 

 sugar-cane planters has encouraged publication on 

 this subject, and hence the issue, within the com- 

 paratively short space of three years, of four books, 

 in English, dealing with the cultivation of the sugar 

 cane or of the production of sugar therefrom. 



There was, of course, much leeway to make up, 

 since the interesting and important results achieved 

 during recent years as the result of the cultural ex- 

 periments carried on in British Guiana, the West 

 Indies, Mauritius, Hawaii, Java, Queensland, India, 

 and elsewhere were for the most part only available 

 in the uninviting form of Government reports, and 

 similarly there existed no general and concise account 

 of the improvements recently brought about in the 

 machinery used in sugar factories. 



