282 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



as, in the conditions obtaining, the plant was probably considerably 

 less vigorous than it would be when undisturbed and in its normal 

 habitat.— H. N. Dixon. 



Ecology of Montia fontana (p. 211). — In Mr. Riley's note on 

 this plant, the kind of habitat is excellently described, and I might 

 add that in the very many situations where I have seen it in 

 numerous counties, when growing well, it always occurs in very 

 well-aerated watery places. Mr. Riley, however, says : — " The 

 factors, therefore, which seem to be necessary for the growth of 

 this plant appear to be a spongy bog with a very slight trickle of 

 water." Montia does not grow in bogs. — Wm. West. 



Ophrys muscifera var. virescens. — A living specimen of a clear 

 green variety of the Fly Orchis has been given to Kew by Mr. H. 

 Walker, 2, Brownswood Park, Green Lanes, N. It was found in a 

 small copse at Wye, near Ashford, Kent, by Mr. G. W. Harris, the 

 joint discoverer with Mr. Walker of the rare Ophrys hybrida Pokorny 

 in Britain two years ago. In the normal form of the species the 

 antennae-like petals and the entire lip, with the exception of a white 

 glaucous blotch in the centre, are dark purple ; but in the variety 

 this pigment is entirely suppressed, leaving these organs light 

 emerald-green in colour, rather more yellow than the sepals, which 

 are in their normal green state. There are parallel cases in 

 Odontoglossum and other genera, where the suppression of dark 

 brown markings leaves the flower yellowish green in colour, and 

 these forms remain constant from year to year. In this case the 

 peculiarity is probably permanent, and as the tuber has been left 

 it may be possible to ascertain this next season. The variety 

 seems exceedingly rare, only a single record having been discovered ; 

 this relates to a greenish form recorded as having been found in 

 Switzerland by Hegetschweiler (Fl. der Schweiz, p. 874). The 

 Wye specimen is preserved at Kew, together with a coloured 

 drawing of it. — E. A. Eolfe. 



NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



The Dillenian Herbaria : An Account of the Dillenian Collections in 



the Herbarium of the University of Oxford together with a 

 Biographical Sketch of Dillenius, Selections from his Correspon- 

 dence, Notes, dc. By G. Claridge Druce, Hon.M.A., Curator 

 of the Fielding Herbarium. Edited, with an Introduction, 

 by S. H. Vines, M.A.,F.B.S., Sherardian Professor of Botany 

 in the University. Oxford : at the Clarendon Press. 1907. 

 8vo, front., pp. cxii, 258. Price 12s. 6d. 



The contents of this excellently-printed volume are sufficiently 

 indicatedby the title-page here transcribed ; but this, full as it is, 

 gives an inadequate notion of the trouble and care which has been 

 spent upon the book. Of this the lion's share — as indicated by 

 Prof. Vines in the interesting introduction in which he gives an 

 estimate of the work of Dillenius and of the place which he occupies 



