NOTICES OF BOOKS AND MEMOIRS. 25 



Classification and Description of the American Species of Charucea. 



By B. D. Halsted. Proceedings of the Boston Society of 

 Nat. Hist., vol. xx., pp. 169-190. 



Under the above title an account is given of some of the Charas 

 of the United States. Eighteen species are enumerated, of which 

 fifteen are common to Europe ; of the remaining three, one is 

 new, C. Bobbin su, which would appear to be a very remarkable 

 plant, especially from the description of the leaves " ending in a 

 whorl of large bracts "; another, C. ggmnopus, is of wide extra- 

 European distribution; and the third, " Xitella yclatinosa," being 

 monoecious, is evidently not the Australian N. gelatinosa, A. Br. 

 Among the more prominent United States species altogether 

 unnoticed in this paper, we may cite Chara sejuncta, C. intermedia, 

 Nitella pralonga and N. acuminata, and the account of the Characea 

 in the ' Plants LindheimeriansB,' in 'Boston Journ. Nat. Hist./ 

 1845, has apparently been overlooked. We must take exception to 

 the statement that in Tolypclla intricata the antheridia are terminal, 

 on which assumption this species is here placed under the genus 

 Xitella. It is hardly necessary to mention that were this the case 

 the genus TolypeUa would not be tenable. In the introduction a 

 short account is given of the structure and development of the 

 Charas. It is evident that the author has examined a large number 

 of specimens, and it is to be hoped that the American representa- 

 tives of this too-much neglected group will continue to receive his 

 attention. H. & J. G. 



On the Popular Names of British Plants. By E. C. A. Prior, M.D. 



Third Edition. Williams & Norgate. 1879. 



^ The earlier editions of this book have been so fully noticed in 

 this Journal (i. 378, ix. 23), that it is unnecessary to do more than 

 call attention to the appearance of a third edition of a work which 

 is invaluable to all who are interested in tracing the derivation of 

 English plant-names. There are many slight alterations and 

 corrections, showing that Dr. Prior is still at work upon the 

 subject; and a few new derivations are added, to one or two of 

 which — e.g., that of Bagged Bobin, at p. 195 — we should be 

 inclined to take exception. We also notice that an error of 

 synonymy which crept into the second edition is uncorrected in this : 

 Orobas tuberosus, L., which was given in the first edition as the Latin 

 equivalent of Kipper-nut, is not the same as Vicia Orobus, DC, 

 but Lathyrua mocrorrhizus, Wimm. But the trifling nature of such 

 blemishes as this is really a very strong testimony to the value of 

 the book as a whole. It is strange that some of our best known 

 names — e.g., Cowslip and Paigle — should remain without any 

 satisfactory explanation. With Britten & Holland's ' Dictionary 

 of English Plant-names' and this volume, which is its indispensable 

 companion, the popular nomenclature of the plants of this country 

 is probably more fully elucidated than is the case with any other 

 branch of Natural History. J. B. 



E 



