128 BOTANICAL NEWS. 



Afghanistan, Tibetan, and Himalayan in character. In the Kuram 

 and Hariab Valleys, the deodar, our finest Himalayan timber tree, 

 forms dense forests, many of which will be found easily worked, 

 and hereafter valuable for exportation. The pine and the oak 

 forests descend and recede much according to the nature of the 

 hill range, its exposure, dryness, or moisture. The walnut and 

 amlok (Diospyros Lotos) produce excellent fruit. Chamarops 

 llitchieana, a branching palm twenty feet high when uninjured, 

 forms an aloe-like scrub on the plateau W. to the Darwaza Gar 

 Pass. Of new species and varieties, the genera Acantholimon, 



Astrayalas, Oxytropis, Cousinia, Nepeta, Sedwn, Saxifraya, Plenro- 

 spermum, Cotyledon, Eremunu, Rosa, llhododendron, Clematis, and 



Polyyonum yield noteworthy examples. Ferns were not plentiful, 



though over a dozen species were found, including Nephrodium 



riyidicm, most characteristic, now for the first time found in Afghan. 



Most of the European edible fruits are found in the orchards. 



Tobacco is occasionally grown, but plants used in kitchen gardening 



are rarely cultivated. The climate of the Hariab district is much 



colder and dryer than Kuram, and the rigour of the winter 



accordingly reacts on the vegetation. Dr. Aitchison en passant 



gave interesting information relative to the native uses of the 



plants, and also mentioned that from Kuram to Ali-Khal nearly 



every house keeps bees, so that a large trade is done in barter for 

 honey. 



Botanical Netos. 



The Rev. Eugene O'Meara, M.A., died on the 20th of last 

 January, at Newcastle Lyons Rectory, Hazlehatch, Co. Dublin, at 

 the age of about sixty-five. He was well known to microscopists 

 on account of his researches among Diatomacese, a group upon 

 which he published numerous memoirs. He was one of the 

 original founders of the Dublin Microscopical Club. 



We have also to announce the death, during the past month, 

 ot the Rev. R. H. Webb, of Essendon, Herts., at the age of about 

 seventy-fave^ In conjunction with the Rev. W. H. Coleman, he 

 was the author of the 'Flora Hertfordiensis ' (1849) and of two 

 supplements to the work, as weU as of a further list of additions 

 which will be found in this Journal for 1872. 



Prof. Thos. Bell, died last month at Selborne, at the age of 

 eighty-seven. He was the oldest Fellow of the Linnean Society, 

 having been elected into that body in 1815 



RLMEN 



«♦ 75 t - m !? tin S ° f the R °y al Societ y wil1 henceforward be held 

 at 4.d0 in the afternoon. 



^J™ lkhe A he ? barmm of Mr. W. Joshua, of Cirencester, has 

 been acquired by the British Museum. 



