BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, ETC. 77 



Lake Tanganyika, with a view to solving the " Tanganyika 

 problem " — whether the fauna and flora of this lake indicate a 

 former marine connection. As illustrated by a good series of 

 specimens laid on the table, the flowering plants, fern allies, and 

 Characea, numbering about forty-five species, were for the most 

 part well-known and widely-distributed forms, such as Xajas 



marina, species of Potamogeton, Pistia Stratiotes, Certttophyllum de- 

 mersum, Myriophyllum spicatum, Jussiaa repens, Trapa nutans t and 



Chara zeylanica, with others restricted to Tropical or Subtropical 

 Africa, such as Ottelia, Boottia scabra, and species of Utricularia. 

 In no case was there any suggestion of marine conditions, either 

 past or present, in the representatives of the flora. The plankton 

 and fresh-water algse, of which an account was given by Mr. G. S. 

 West, yielded remarkably rich results ; due partly, no doubt, to the 

 paucity of our previous knowledge of the microscopic flora of these 

 lakes, especially in the case of Tanganyika. Mr. West's list con- 

 tains about 400 species, a large proportion of which are new, 

 including one new genus of Palmellacea. A few species from 

 Tanganyika showed a striking affinity with marine forms, indi- 

 cating that at some period the water of this lake had a considerable 

 degree of salinity. But, as Dr. Cunnington explained, this did not 

 involve a previous marine connection, but might be explained by an 

 increase in saline matter in the water due to the damming of the 

 outlet from the lake. This damming was perhaps a periodical 

 occurrence, since Stanley, thirty years ago, described the lake as 

 with no outlet ; while a few years later Mr. Hore, visiting the same 

 spot as Stanley, found the water rushing through the present outlet 

 towards the Congo. 



At the meeting of the Linnean Society on Jan. 17, Mr. William 

 Henry Pearson was elected an Associate of the Society. This was 

 the first election under the new bye-laws, which, as is often the case, 

 prove to have been so drawn up as to present difficulties in working 

 which had to be overcome. There were five candidates for election, 

 two of whom were specially recommended by the Council. This 

 proceeding seems to us objectionable on several grounds ; it did 

 not, however, affect the result, as the Fellows exercised their right 

 and elected a candidate not officially recommended. Mr. Pearson 

 has for many years been a contributor to these pages, and we con- 

 gratulate him on his election. 



Attention should have been called earlier to the sketch of 

 " Crabbe as a Botanist," read by Mr. James Groves at the Crabbe 

 Commemoration at Aldeburgh in 1905, and published in the Proceed- 

 ings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and Natural History, 

 vol. xii. part 2. Mr. Groves publishes interesting letters from the 

 poet regarding Tri folium snfocatum, of which he was, thoi „ 

 the first discoverer, one of the earliest observers in Britain, "and of 

 which his drawing and specimens, sent to Banks, are in the 

 National Herbarium. In one of the letters Crabbe announces his 

 intention of publishing " a short history of all the Trifolia which I 

 have cultivated with so much care for three or four years past," 





