BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, ETC. 213 



succulent plants which have become known in cultivation in the 

 meantime is so large as to render advisable a separate treatment 

 for different groups. The other handbooks which M. Berger has 

 in preparation deal respectively with Aloe and allied genera, Agave 

 and allied genera, Mesembryanthemum and Portulacacete, Crassulacea, 

 Cacti, Stapeliea and Composite* 



The succulent Euphorbias include, in addition to the extreme 

 cactus-like forms, a number of leaf-bearing species which are con- 

 nected by B series of gradations with the small herbaceous type. 

 They are well-marked xerophytes, found for the most part in 

 Africa, inhabiting the deserts and steppes or dry mountain slopes 

 in South Africa, and extending eastwards and northwards to the 

 Red Sea. On the west they occur in Morocco, the Canary Islands, 

 Cape Verde Islands, and the Azores, while on the east of the great 

 centre species are found in Madagascar, Arabia, Socotra and India. 

 Three species only have been described from America. With few 

 exceptions only those species which are in cultivation are included 

 by M. Berger. They number over a hundred, and are arranged in 

 twelve sections; a description in German accompanies each species, 

 and references are given to the original description and to published 

 figures. Each section or sub-section is preceded by a key. Several 

 new species are described ; some of these are known only in culti- 

 vation, but one, E. Stapjii, is a recent discovery by Mr. Dawe, at 

 Entebbe, iti Uganda. 



The book contains a number of useful figures, including many 



photographic reproductions of habit. 



A. B. R. 



BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, <tc. 



We have received two packets (Qd. each) of u The Country 

 Press Pictorial Descriptive Postcards'' — one of the boles and one 

 of "natural figures" of British trees, with short descriptions of 

 each by Mr. F. G. Heath. The pictures are well done and would 

 be useful in schools : the letterpress is very brief and not equally 

 commendable — we do not know why the name Platanus orientalis is 

 replaced by the later and less familiar P. acerifolia, and we doubt 

 whether the Lime was ever " called \ The Carver's Tree.' " But the 

 pictures are worth the money. 



An interesting feature of the Royal Agricultural Society's forth- 

 coming show, to be held upon the Racecourse at Lincoln from the 

 25th to the 29fch June next, will be the Forestry Exhibition. For 

 competition special medals will be offered in fourteen different 

 sections, including classes for specimen boards of various sorts of 

 timber, specimens showing the damage done by insect pests, the 

 comparative quality of timber grown on different soils, and the 

 respective ages at which it reaches marketable size, the beneficial 

 effects of pruning when well done, and the injurious effects when 

 badly done. Plots of 



will 



exhibition 



