330 
NATURE 
THE ROYAL INTERNATIONAL 
HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITION. 
pee Royal International Horticultural Exhibition 
which has just been held in the grounds of the 
Royal Hospital, Chelsea, possessed considerable 
scientific and educational interest. In the first place, 
a whole tent was devoted to scientific exhibits con- 
tributed by Prof. Bateson, Prof. Keeble, Prof. Balfour, 
the director of the Rothamsted Experimental Station, 
the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, the Wye 
Agricultural College, Messrs. James Veitch and Sons, 
Mr. Backhouse, of the Innes Horticultural Station, 
Mr. William Cuthbertson, and others, whilst a most 
excellent exhibit of specimens of injurious insects, 
contributed by Mr. Georges Truffaut, of Versailles, 
was staged in the tent specially reserved for French 
exhibits. 
Then there were two conferences held under the 
presidency of the Rt. Hon. A. H. Dyke Acland, one 
on Thursday, May 23, on horticultural education, 
and another on the following day on the subject of 
legislation in connection with insect pests. At the 
education conference the papers included one from 
Prof. L. H. Bailey, Cornell University, U.S.A., on 
horticultural education in America; Herr K. Wein- 
hausen, Berlin, on horticultural education in 
Germany; Mr. W. Hales, on the education of a 
gardener; and Prof. A. Buyssens, of the School of 
Horticulture, Vilvorde, Belgium, on _ horticultural 
education in Belgium. 
At Friday’s conference Prof. Ritzema Bos, Holland, 
contributed a paper on the value of importation regu- 
lations as a means of preventing the introduction of 
plant pests from abroad; A. G. L. Rogers (Board of 
Agriculture), on the aim of legislation in Great 
Britain; H. Maxwell Lefroy, imperial entomologist 
for India, on legislation in connection with insect 
pests; H. J. Gussow, botanist to the Canadian 
Government, on legislation in connection with fungus 
diseases; and A. W. Sutton, Reading, on import dues 
and regulations. 
Both conferences were fairly well attended, and the 
second one particularly appeared to excite much 
interest. The committee intend to get all the in- 
formation possible on both subjects, and their report, 
together with the papers contributed to the confer- 
ences and the discussion, will be printed in the 
official report. 
The exhibition will also be famous for the notable 
speech delivered by the Rt. Hon. Walter Runciman, 
President of the Board of Agriculture, at the jurors’ 
luncheon. Mr. Runciman spoke very sympathetically 
respecting the proposed national diploma for 
gardeners, and though not pledging the Government 
to any particular line of action, he said that ‘ what- 
ever is best in the interests of horticulture in the 
allotting, organising, and examining for diplomas 
shall receive full assistance from the department over 
which I preside.””. Mr. Runciman then proceeded to 
make an even more notable announcement, namely, 
that he had created a horticultural branch of the 
Board of Agriculture, the interests of which will be 
devoted exclusively to horticulture, and near the head 
of that branch it was proposed to appoint one of the 
best entomologists the country can furnish. 
AN EARLY CRETACEOUS FLORA. 
[ENE coastal plain of Maryland, a region forming 
part of the Atlantic slope which extends from 
the crest of the Alleghanies to the sea, consists of 
Mesozoic and Tertiary strata deposited in orderly 
sequence since the dawn of the Cretaceous epoch. It 
1 “Marvland Geological Survey.—Lover Cretaceous.” Pp. 622+xcvii 
plates. (Baliimore: Tohns Hopkins Press roti.) 
NO. 2222, VOL. 89| 
[May 30, 1912 
is with the estuarine and fluviatile beds of the Lower 
Cretaceous, or Potomac, group that this important 
volume is primarily concerned. With the exception of 
a few Reptilia and Mollusca, described respectively by 
Mr. R. S. Lull and Mr. W. Bullock Clark, the life 
of the period is represented by a rich flora, which has 
been entrusted to Mr. E. W. Berry. As stated in the 
preface, ‘“‘The necessity of some sort of systematic 
treatment of the maze of described forms in the litera- 
ture of the Potomac which would enable the geologist 
or botanist to obtain some idea of the flora has long 
been felt." This want is satisfactorily met by the 
publication of the reports included in the fourth 
volume of a series dealing with the stratigraphy and 
paleontology of Maryland. 
The determination of fragmentary fossil plants 
affords ample scope not only for the imagination, but 
also for differences of opinion. Some of Mr. Berry’s 
conclusions are open to criticism; but this is of minor 
importance, and reluctance to agree with a few of his 
determinations does not necessarily imply ability to 
do better. He has treated the subject from a broad 
point of view, and the result is a monograph of per- 
manent value. The introductory section, by W. B. 
Clark, A. B. Bibbins, and E. W. Berry, includes a 
concise account of the Potomac group, with a biblio- 
graphy and historical review, followed by a general 
discussion on the stratigraphical and palzontological 
features of the beds. In the two lower subdivisions of 
the Potomac group (the Patuxent and Arundel), 
ferns, cycads, and conifers are abundant, but the 
genera Rogersia, Proteaphyllum, and Ficophyllum 
are wisely distrusted by Mr. Berry as records of 
flowering plants. In the uppermost, or Patapsco, 
formation Angiosperms are abundant. 
In a letter to Hooker in 1879 Darwin wrote :— 
“The rapid development as far as we can judge of 
all the higher plants within recent geological times 
is an abominable mystery.’’ It is because this mystery 
is still unsolved that any additions to our knowledge 
of floras in which the earliest examples of flowering 
plants occur is particularly welcome. Mr. Berry ex- 
presses the opinion that the evolution of the Angio- 
sperms was accomplished, if not inaugurated, in the 
Lower Cretaceous period. There can, however, be 
very little doubt that the angiospermous type had 
been evolved some time before the close of the pre- 
ceding Jurassic epoch, though it was not until the 
later phase of the Cretaceous period that the re- 
markable success of the new type became apparent. 
Unfortunately, the Potomac Angiosperms are repre- 
sented almost entirely by impressions of leaves, fossils 
which it is so easy to name but in many cases almost 
impossible to identify with confidence. 
The concise summary by Mr. Berry of the literature 
on the Lower Cretaceous floras of the world is a 
welcome contribution both to geologists and to the 
student of ancient phytogeography. The descriptions 
by the same author of the Maryland plants, accom- 
panied by good illustrations and some useful maps, 
mark a considerable advance on the less critical 
| accounts of the Potomac flora previously published. 
Several new genera are instituted, though it is 
| questionable whether they all rest on a satisfactory 
| foundation. 
Some fronds of a ‘“ pseudo-dichotomous ” 
habit are referred to Knowltonella, a genus assigned 
with hesitation to the Matonineze on unconvincing 
evidence. The genus Dicksoniopsis is founded on 
pieces of fern fronds which afford no satisfactory in- 
dication of close relationship to Dicksonia rather than 
to other members of the Cyatheaceze, and might well 
be included in the old genus Coniopteris. Similarly 
the generic name Dryopteris suggests an affinity to 
Dryopteris, which is not established. 
In coining new names implying near relationship 
ase 
