Notes and Comments. 343 
tinues, and Mr. Sherborn desired to thank Dr. Karpinski for 
obtaining for him the second volume of the Trudui of the St. 
Petersburg Mineralogical Society, 1831; Dr. Bashford Dean 
and Mr. O. F. Cook for a complete set of ‘ Brandtia,’ 1896-97, 
both of which works will find a resting place in the British 
Museum (Nat. Hist.) when done with. He also desired to 
thank Mr. Tom Iredale for much valuable help in obscure bird 
genera. Zoologists cannot speak too highly of the valuable 
work Mr. Sherborn is doing for the Committee. 
BOTANICAL PHOTOGRAPHS. 
The Committee reported that in accordance with the wish 
expressed by the Committee of the Botanical Section at the 
Sheffield Meeting of the Association, the second list of photo- 
graphs collected by the Committee had been printed and dis- 
tributed to the botanical members of the Association. This 
list includes mainly single plants or groups of plants either in 
their natural habitat or under cultivation. Owing to special 
circumstances it had been impossible this year to prepare and 
publish a list of the ecological photographs which have so far 
been collected. It is hoped that this may be done next year, 
and with this object in view, the Committee asked to be re- 
appointed. 
THE WILTING OF MOORLAND PLANTS. 
In a paper read to the Botanical Section, Mr. W. B. 
Crump stated that the purpose of investigations carried out 
in the summer of last year was to arrive at the physiological 
water-content of moorland soils. This was done by deter- 
mining the water still remaining in the soil when wilting 
definitely set in. A preliminary set of experiments made 
in 1906 had already given fairly satisfactory results, and a 
knowledge of the main difficulties and precautions ; but they 
were neither numerous enough nor started sufficiently early 
in the season to justify publication. The initial difficulty 
in the case of moorland plants is to decide when wilting occurs. 
The indications common in mesophytes, such as flaccidity, 
drooping or total collapse, are absent ; withering creeps on 
so gradually that one is at a loss to decide where to draw the 
line. Experience, gained by the sacrifice of some of the plants, 
fur: shed a clue in some cases; and in several species, notably 
Molinia and Eriophorum angustifolium, a more precise test 
was found in the rolling or folding of the leaves. About sixty 
specimens were obtained and established in pots, ranging 
from 4}:to 7 inches, during March and April roro, before the 
renewal of growth had set in. At the end of June about forty 
were growing satisfactorily and these were protected from rain 
by a light screen from July onwards. When it was apparent 
that wilting had set in, the peat or soil was sampled from among 
ro1r Oct. t. 
