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only just reached us : it seems to be an extract from some serial 

 publication, but this is not anywhere indicated. The list gives 

 localities and short descriptive notes, and the numbers under which 

 Mr. Curtis has distributed specimens are quoted. We regret to 

 observe the publication of some nomina nuda — a growing practice 

 which ought to be discouraged. 



On p. 191 we noticed a simple and cheap stand for supporting 

 lenses of different powers ; the maker, Andrew H. Baird, of Edin- 

 burgh, now sends a dissecting table for use with the above. The 

 table is made of polished sheet-zinc, and has a plate-glass top, 

 which, if dissections under water are required, can be replaced by 

 a metal tank with a glass bottom, which fits into a circular hole in 

 the middle of the table. The price of the whole apparatus, including 

 stands and lenses, is 6s. 6d„ post free 7s. We presume that if the 

 whole outfit be purchased at once, the rod of the stands for sup- 

 porting the lenses will fit the tube inserted in the table for its 

 reception. This, however, is not the case with the one sent by Mr. 

 Baird a month or two ago ; a fact which greatly discounts the value 

 of the whole, as it is essential that the lens should be steady. We 

 would also suggest that the openings in the side of the table should 

 be enlarged, in order to let in as much light as possible below the 

 plate-glass or tank. We are pleased with the little tank, which, 

 though somewhat roughly made, is of fair size (4£ in. across), and 

 of about the right depth. 



Some years ago the Tablet, with characteristic accuracy, and 

 a gracefulness of diction peculiarly its own, referred to the Editor 

 of this Journal as "a person who has really such a sphere of 

 modest usefulness open to him as classifying and cataloguing 

 beetles for the nation at South Kensington." It might be well 

 if that paper, which has long been notorious for its typographical 

 blunders, could secure some one to fill the "sphere of modest 

 usefulness open to him" in correcting the press. Its issue for 

 Aug. 18 contains the account of a garden which is adorned with 

 "coleus verscha feltii," " messembryanthemum," " allyssum," 

 "white variegated flowers of spring" (whatever these may be), 

 and "golden harryiover geranium "—the last name, if we mistake 

 not, being that of a garden variety more usually known as "Harry 

 Hieover." 



We have received a prospectus of the Systematic Botany of North 

 Aim ica, which is "designed to present in one work descriptions of 

 all plants growing independent of cultivation in North America, 

 north of Mexico." The " Board of Editors " is composed of eight 

 members, under the chairmanship of Dr. Britton, and the co- 

 operation of most of the North American botanists has been 

 secured. The work will consist of 17 volumes, and will not be 

 issued in regular order, following in this respect Engler & Prantl's 

 Naiairliche Pflanzenfamilien, which will also be taken as a model 

 for the general sequence of orders. Each monographer will be 

 expected to "conform to a general style, and to principles of 

 nomenclature and citation": it is to be hoped that the "prin- 



