October 31, 1907J 



NA TURE 



659 



— all fjiven with no other thought than of doing- what in 

 him lay to further the true interests of agriculture. 

 How greatly Giissefeld benefited by his wise counsel, 

 and what material advantages he gained from Liebig's 

 altruistic interest in the development of the industry of 

 which he was a pioneer in Germany, Giissefeld "s 

 letters clearly indicate. His letters, too, indicate his 

 si^nse of gratitude. He repeatedly pressed upon his 

 distinguished correspondent his earnest desire to make 

 some substantial recompense, but Liebig declined to 

 entertain any thought of pecuniary reward. .All Giisse- 

 feld could do was to appeal to one of the most char- 

 acteristic of Liebig's frailties. He was, to quote Dr. 

 O. E. Giissefeld, a " leidenschaftlicher Raucher und 

 woUte schwere und nur gute Zigarren haben." These, 

 we are told, are particularly easy to obtain in Ham- 

 burg; and we are assured by Liebig that Giissefeld 

 sent him of the best the city could furnish, and kept 

 him well supplied. There is much virtue in a good 

 cigar; how much German agriculture owes to it may 

 be plainly discerned in this interesting correspondence. 



T. E. T. 



BOTANICAL WORKS. 

 (i) Botanisches Jahrbuch. Edited by Dr. .\. Engler. 



\'ols. xxxvi to xxxix. (Leipzig : W. Engelmann, 



IQ05-7.) 

 (2) Deis Pflanzciircich. Edited by Dr. .\. Engler. 



\'ols. xxii to xxvi, xxvii and xxix. (I^eipzig : W. 



Engelmann, 1905-7.) 

 (j) Recueil de I'Insiitut botaniquc. Edited by Dr. 



L. lirrera and Dr. J. Massart. Vols, i, ii, and 



vi. (Bruxelles : H. Lamertin, 1906.) 

 (i) T7 ^'GLER'S "Botanisches Jahrbuch" serves 

 J — ' mainlv as a repository for information on 

 systematic botany and plant geography. The issue is 

 peculiar, as usually three or four volumes are in pro- 

 gress simultaneously, but the irregular appearance of 

 the parts serves to ensure rapid publication of papers 

 containing new identifications. Vol. xxxvi was 

 begun and completed in 1905, but the three succeeding 

 volumes form a simultaneous triad that date from 

 September, 1905, to NL-irch, 1907. Throughout the four 

 volumes there are only four instalments of the 

 " Beitriige zur Flora von .\frika," in which special in- 

 terest attaches to the Orchidaceas and Asclepiadaceas 

 mostly collected and described by Mr. R. Schlechter, 

 two new genera of the Podostemonacea; founded by 

 Or. A. Engler, the collation of the Gombretaceae by 

 Dr. L. Diels, and the list compiled by Dr. F. Pax 

 of plants collected by Mr. F. Rosen in Abyssinia. 

 .\nother monograph of a similar nature is concerned 

 with the plants collected by Dr. A. Weberbauer on a 

 tour of exploration over the highlands of Peru, of 

 which a brief outline was given in vol. xxxii, and a 

 map with the two first instalments of determinations 

 prepared by various workers under the editorship of 

 Prof. L Urban appears in vol. xxxvii. Dr. Weber- 

 bauer also contributes two short articles that may be 

 regarded as preparatory to a volume for the series 

 " Die Vegetation der Erde." 



The subject of insular floras is enriched by several 

 NO. 1983, VOL. 761 



papers. To a phytogeographical account of New 

 Caledonia, Mr. R. Schlechter has added a system- 

 atic account of the flora, and Dr. E. Lemmermann 

 has compiled a list of algje collected in* the Chatham 

 Islands. 



Among the summaries representing recent work on 

 individual orders and genera, a general comparative 

 account of the Cornaceae is presented by Mr. W. Wan- 

 guerin. The review of the order Valerianaceae by 

 Dr. P. Graebner affords an indication of a more 

 elaborate commentary to appear in a future volume 

 of the " Pflanzenreich." The genus .Anemone forms the 

 subject of a monograph by Dr. E. L'lbrich. 



Two papers of more universal interest are provided 

 in the accounts of myrmecophilous plants by Mr. E. 

 l"le and Mr. H. v. Ihering. The symbiotic hypo- 

 thesis, as well as the view that the hollow spaces in 

 the stems are the result of natural selection, are 

 refuted. The biology of tropical flowers and fruits is 

 discussed by Prof. H. Winkler, and an ecological 

 study of the vegetation on some newly-formed islands 

 in a Swedish lake is described by Mr. S. Birger. 



(2) " Das Pflanzenreich " has attained to twenty- 

 nine volumes, of which eight have been published since 

 November, 1905. The volume on the Primulncese has 

 been prepared by Prof. F. Pax and Dr. R. Knuth. 

 The genus Primula is remarkable, both for the beauty 

 of the flowers and its wide distribution. From the 

 map provided it will be seen that centres of 

 distribution occur in Switzerland and in the 

 Himalayas, but the richest source lies in 

 western China. Dr. A. K. Schindler has con- 

 tributed the monograph on the Halorrhagaces, from 

 which he excludes the genus Hippuris. Dr. Fr. 

 Buchenau has summarised the fruits of his researches 

 in the volume on the Juncaccae. The anatomy of the 

 leaves, the germination of the seedlings, and the 

 numerous hybrids are important features of the order. 

 Prof. L. Diels is responsible for the Droseraceae, that 

 show many interesting characters in anatomy, regen- 

 eration, and growth forms. In dealing with the 

 Polemoniaceas, Dr. -X. Brand pays special attention 

 to the work of .American botanists. The latest volume 

 by Mr. O. E. Schulz is concerned with the Erythro- 

 .xylaceas. 



(3) The papers collected in these volumes of the 

 " Recueil de I'lnstitut botanique " of Brussels con- 

 stitute a scientific memorial to the late Prof. Errera, 

 as they represent research carried out by him or in- 

 spired by his influence. The first volume contains 

 several papers by Prof. Errera on glycogen in plants, 

 and contributions on the same subject by Dr. E. 

 Laurent and Mr. G. Clautriau. In the second volume 

 is published a series of papers dealing with the cj'cle 

 of nitrogen compounds, including those by Dr. E. 

 Laurent on the reduction of nitrates, and Mr. E. 

 Marchal's account of ammonia formation in the soil 

 by bacteria. .Another important collection of papers 

 relates to alkaloids and proteid substances. This 

 series begins with the paper on the localisation and 

 significance of alkaloids in plants, written by Prof. 

 Errera in conjunction with Dr. Maistriau and Mr. G. 

 Clautriau. The next three volumes are reserved for 

 papers published before the year 1903. The sixth 



