Febbuart 28, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



337 



belonging to the following five families: 

 Dicruridffi, Vangidae, Campophagidse [lege 

 Campephagidffi], Laniidffl and Prionopidse. 

 The peculiar genus Aerocharis is here in the 

 Vangidse, but should constitute a family by 

 itself — Aerocharidse. 



The genus Edolius is synonymized with 

 Dicrurus, and Ahlottornis with Artamiaj 

 while the several subdivisions of Lanius 

 {Fiscus, Enneoctonus, Phoneus and Otomela), 

 which have not even consistent color charac- 

 ters for their separation, are all given full 

 generic rank. The generic name Telophorus 

 Swainson is very properly given a place in- 

 stead of Pelicinius Boie; but no satisfactory 

 generic characters for the group so desig- 

 nated are given to separate it from Chloro- 

 pJioneus, or either of these from Laniarius. 

 The name Tschagra Lesson is used for the 

 group commonly known as Telephonus Swain- 

 son, but this should be called Pomatorhynchus 

 Boie, as contended by Dr. Eeichenow. 



Only a single species — Vanga griseipectus, 

 from southern Madagascar — is described as 

 new. Our author considers Laniarius ahhotti 

 inseparable from Laniarius nigrifrons, but it 

 seems to us to be distinct. Likewise all the 

 readily recognizable subspecies of Dicrurus 

 adsimilis (here called by the preoccupied 

 name Dicrurus afer) are ignored. 



On the eight colored plates fourteen species, 

 including the one here first described, are fig- 

 ured. These plates are by Mr. H. Gronvold, 

 and remind us not a little of the work of the 

 late Mr. J. G. Keulemans. 



Harry C. Oberholser 



BOTANICAL NOTES 



ANOTHER AFRICAN PLANT ENUMERATION 



A SHORT time ago the writer reviewed 

 Muschler's " Flora of Egypt ",' and referred 

 particularly to the absence of certain plants, 

 or types of vegetation from the region in- 

 cluded in that work (the lower Nile Valley, 

 southward to Nubia), and now we have a 

 contribution from South Africa which per- 

 mits of some striking contrasts. This second 

 publication is a " First Check-List of the 



' Science, December 20, 1912. 



Flowering Plants and Ferns of the Transvaal 

 and Swaziland," by Professor Joseph Burtt- 

 Davy and Mrs. Eeno Pott-Leendertz,' consti- 

 tuting a 66-page octavo pamphlet, in contrast 

 with the two volumes by Muschler. Yet in 

 this little pamphlet we find enumerated 3,264: 

 species, against 1,632 in the larger work. 

 Moreover, the geographical area covered by 

 the South African pamphlet (117,000 square 

 miles) is less than half that covered by the 

 Egyptian book. 



Eunning rapidly through the check-list, the 

 following numerical data attract attention. 

 There are here recorded 97 species of ferns, 

 including one Marattia, 5 Hymenophyllaceae 

 and 78 Polypodiaceae. One finds also of 

 Equisetum 1, Lycopodium 6 and Selaginella 

 5 species. The conifers are represented by 

 Podocarpus (3 species) and Widdringtonia 

 (1 species). 



Of the grasses there are 146 native and 44 

 introduced species, the former including such 

 genera as Andropogon (11 species), Panicum 

 (19), Eragrostis (25), while of the sedges 

 there are given 105 species (Cyperus, 27; 

 Scirpvs, 12; Carex, 10). Four palms are 

 listed, and 189 Liliaceae (but no Lilium), 

 with such genera as Anthericum (31 species), 

 Aloe (17), Scilla (22) and Asparagus (13). 

 Iridaceae with 79 species is notable for its 

 28 species of Gladiolus. So too we may note 

 the 123 species of Orchidaceae (Hahenaria, 

 23 species; Disa, 18 species; Eulophia, 31 

 species). 



To give an opportunity for comparison we 

 may mention further that there are 275 spe- 

 cies of Leguminosae {Acacia, 33; Orotalaria, 

 12; Indigofera, 29) and 52 species of Euphor- 

 biaceae. Anacardiaceae include 43 species 

 (Rhus, 36) ; Tiliaeeae, 25 species (but no 

 Tilia) ; Violaceae, 2 species ( Viola, 1) ; Erica- 

 ceae, 11 species {Erica, 10) ; Asclepiadaceae, 

 156 species {Asclepias, 28) ; Convolvulaceae, 

 62 species {Convolvulus, 14; Ipomoea, 37); 

 Labiatae, 103 ; Scrophulariaceae, 138 ; Acan- 

 thaceae, 108; Cucurbitaceae, 230. Of Com- 

 positae there are 304 species {Vernonia, 14; 



-Annals Transvaal Museum, 19] 2. 



