348 THE GENUS MASDEVALLIA. 



the lists of Bark plants noted by Dr. M. Bull in this Journal for 

 1872 and 1874. I have, as on former occasions, to thank Mr. 

 Arthur Bennett for help in determining the plants : — Papaver Rhceas. 

 One plant on waste ground. — Cardamine hirsuta. — Uaphanus Rapha- 

 nistrum. One plant, Little Sark. — Viola arvensis. — Poly gala serpyl- 

 lacea. — Saponaria officinalis. On banks, &c, in several places, but 

 always near houses. — A form of Hypericum decumbms Peterman. 

 This plant seems common in the northern parts of Guernsey. 

 Trifolium agrariuvi. — Lotus corniculatus var. crassif otitis. Vicia un- 

 cinata. Lane near the Gouliot Caves. — Potentilla Anserina. 

 Valerianella carinata. — Tanacetum vulgare. Orchard La Tour, &c. 

 Arctium minus. Near Crex Harbour. — A. intermedium. Baker's 

 Valley. — The rayed form of Centaurea nigra was noticed sparingly 

 both in Sark and Guernsey. In the district of Somersetshire 

 round Winscombe and Cheddar, the rayed form is common to 

 excess. Indeed, I have not noticed any plants of typical C. nigra. 

 Borago officinalis. Frequent on waste ground. — Cuscuta Epi- 

 thymum. One good-sized patch near the Coupee, on Anthemis nobilis, 

 Lotus corniculatus, &c. — Solanum Dulcamara var. mannurn. — Veronica 

 persica. Plentiful in churchyard. — Orobanche rubra. I gathered 

 two other Orobanches in Sark which seem very probably new to 

 Britain, but the plants were too far gone for Mr. Bennett to 

 determine these with certainty this year. — Mentha sativa. — Atriplex 

 patula var. erecta. — Euphorbia exigua. — Ruscus aculeatiis. — Aira cargo- 

 phyllea var. aggregata. — Briza maxima. A few plants on waste 

 ground. — W. P. Miller. 



NOTICES OF BOOKS. 

 The Genus Masdevallia. Issued by the Marquess of Lothian, K.T. 



III. Folio. £1 10s. London: Porter. 



WoOLWARD 



Descriptions of new species of orchids, singly or in decades, are 

 met with in almost every number of every periodical devoted to the 

 interests of the systematic botanist or horticulturist. The species 

 may be good or bad, but in either case the little paragraphs of 

 condensed technicalities have a drearisome sameness. Personal 

 vanity may be flattered, but the science is not much helped by this 

 diffuse propagation of species, many of which will probably disappear 

 or take the inferior rank of varieties when another Lindley shall 

 arise to rearrange the whole order. If we wait to discover all the 

 species first, we shall never start on their arrangement in genera. 



In the prevalence of this tendency, it is pleasant to find a lady 

 attempting and successfully carrying out work of the higher and more 

 useful order. The present number of Miss Woolward's work con- 

 tains the third decade of her illustrations and descriptions of the 

 species of Masdevallia. As in the two previous parts, the ten 

 species here brought together have no necessary connection other 



