NOTICES OP BOOKS AND MEMOIRS. . 219 



are the same as those mentioned by Mr. Warner. — George 

 Murray. 



A Fibre-yielding Curculigo. — The Kew Museum is indebted to 

 Mr. F. W. Burbidge for a very complete series of specimens illus- 

 trating the manufacture of cloth in Borneo from a species of 

 CurcuUgo, which has been identified by Mr. Baker with ( '. latifoUa, 

 Dryand. The Dusan in N. W. Borneo, near Kina Balu, prepare 

 the fibre by macerating and beating the leaves. The fibre is 

 woven into a very close cloth about ten inches wide in a loom of 

 very simple construction, such as is used in Brittany for weaving 

 saddle-girths. A heavy wooden sword is used for driving close 

 the woof after it is thrown by the shuttle between the threads of 

 the warp. The strong fibrous leaves of I kareuUgo teychdUnm are 

 emploved in the Seychelles for wrapping plugs of tobacco (Baker, 

 'Flora of Mauritius,' &c, p. 3G8), and this is apparently the only 

 other known instance of the economic use of a Hypoxidaceous 

 plant.— W. T. Thiselton Dver. 



Extracts autr Notices of t&oofts & ftemoix*. 



OFFICIAL REPORT FOR L879 OF THE DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY 



IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



By W. Carruthers, F.R.S. 



The work of incorporating plants in the General and British 

 Herbaria has been actively carried on during the past year, in 

 its progress the following Natural Orders have been greatly 

 increased, and more or less completely re-arranged : —Lee/urnwo$a, 



Araliweat, DipsacacM, Styracea, OUtUM, LoganiaCMB, Gentianacea, 



PoUmoniacea, Bydroleaeea, Boragvua, Labiate, Gesneracea, txroph- 

 uktriaceai, Nyctagin*a, I'hytolarcacea, LiUacM, Commtmac**, tihees, 

 Fungi, and Alga. ,. , . , 



The following collections have been either entirely or in pait 

 incorporated in the General Herbarium :— Plants collected in the 

 Transvaal by the Rev. W. Greenstock ; in the Malayan Archipelago, 

 % Lobb; in Borneo, by Burbidge; in the Samoan Is ands, by t^ 

 Rev. S. J. Whitmee; in Australia, by the Baron Mueller; m New 

 Zealand, by Dr. Ber^gren; in the Southern United States, bj 

 Rugel ; in Mexico, bj Botteri, Salle, Ghiesbreght and others; in 

 Costa Rica, by Polakowsky ; in Surinam, by Berthoud-Coulon in 

 Bolivia, by Bridges ; and in Uruguay, by Lorentz Numerous 

 collections by various botanists have been incorporated belonging 

 ^ the following Natural Orders :—Jtoace*, Babtacea, Composite, 

 SoUmacm, Boraginm, Piper ace*, Anddea, Commelinaeea, Igperacea, 



Qfmmea, Alqa, and Fwigi. , . .. , mMM 



. The principal addition to the Department during the past jear 

 »s the extensive Herbarium of the late John Micrs, *.R.fc>., &c, 



