BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, ETC. 381 



hundred papers is given, and this is followed by a systematic 

 review of every plant described or discussed in them. It is thus 

 easy to find out practically everything that has been published 

 about any particular species or subject during the year. The 

 scope of the work is very wide, including many papers on modern 

 plants allied to ancient types. A large number of references are 

 given to papers dealing with the difficult subject of Quaternary 

 Plants, which is of such great importance in the study of geo- 

 graphical distribution, plant associations, and other topics, and 

 which claims so few workers in this country. A series of volumes 

 like the present one would simplify research considerably, and, 

 since the labour of producing it must be enormous, it is to be 

 hoped that botanists will support it in a practical way. 



H. H. 



BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, dx. 



At the meeting of the Linnean Society on Nov. 7th, Dr. R. R. 

 Gates read a paper " On Mutating (Enotheras," in which the 

 following facts and views regarding mutation as an evolutionary 

 factor were referred to : — 



1. (Enothera Lamarckiana has probably undergone crossing in 

 the wild state to the same extent that other open pollinated species 

 intercross. 2. The mutation phenomena are an evidence of ger- 

 minal instability resulting from crossing, change of climate, or 

 cultivation. 3. Hybrid splitting is inadequate to account for the 

 forms which suddenly appear. 4. Some of the mutants differ 

 from the parent in their physiological adjustments, and this may 

 account for cases of " climatic adaptation," but mutations will not 

 suffice to explain the more complex adaptations which involve 

 inter-relationships between several organisms. 5. (E. ruhricalyx 

 has originated as a heterozygous mutant, but there are obvious 

 difficulties in applying the same explanation to the other mutants 

 of (Enothera. 6. The origin of certain of the mutations, at least 

 (e. g. (E. lata, (E.gigas), is intimately concerned with chromosome 

 mechanisms ; that of certain others may be concerned with the 

 action of releasing stimuli. 7. Darwinian natural selection always 

 assumed an original environmental change for the organism, either 

 (a) a change of climate in a given area, or (b) the introduction of 

 new organisms, leading to the gradual modification of the species. 

 8. But neither chance-wise mutations in all directions, nor the 

 vicissitudes of changing climates and distributions can account for 

 the orderly phylogenies which larger groups of organisms fre- 

 quently show. 9. There is no single evolutionary factor, but the 

 process is a multifarious one. 



At the same meeting a paper was read by Mr. Henry N. Ridley 

 on a collection of plants from Mount Menuang Gasing, Selangor. 

 Menuang Gasing is the most southern high point of the great 

 chain of the granite mountains which form the backbone of the 

 peninsula. The mountain is 4900 ft. high, and though there are 

 other hills a little south of this, this is the highest and most likely 

 to bear the high hill flora. The fauna was found to belong to that 



