384 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



including two on garden folk-lore and legends and one on 

 the flo^Yer festivals which form so characteristic a feature of 

 Japanese life. Mrs. Taylor writes in a pleasing style, and her 

 intimate acquaintance with her subject renders her book a trust- 

 worthy^ account of the gardens of Japan. 



In the premature announcement of his death (see p. 296) Dr. 

 M. C. Cooke has shared the fate of Mark Twain and, earlier, of 

 Charles Waterton, both of whom had occasion to protest against 

 their too speedy inclusion among the majority. The contradiction 

 came to us just as we had read the circumstantial account in the 

 October Kcio Bulletin that Dr. Cooke " peacefully passed away 

 at his residence " on Aug. 19. Thus is history written ! 



We learn from the Keio Bidletin that our sometime contributor 

 Mr. I. H. Burkill has been appointed Director of the Singapore 

 Botanic Gardens in succession to Mr. H. W. Eidley, whose retire- 

 ment we announced on p. 176. 



The preparation of the second edition of the Biographical 

 Index of British and Irish Botanists is making rapid progress, 

 and the compilers will be glad to receive any additions or correc- 

 tions to the existing work. A list of names concerning which 

 fuller information is especially desired may be obtained from 

 either of the compilers — Mr. James Britten, 41 Boston Eoad, 

 Brentford, T^Iiddlesex, and Mr. G. S. Boulger, 11 Onslow Road, 

 Richmond, Surrey, where also all other information may be sent. 

 It is proposed to bring the volume up to the end of 1912. 



Messrs. Macmillan publish in the " Travel Series " issued by 

 their New York House a very charming volume — Among English 

 Hedgeroics — written and illustrated by Clifton Johnson. The 

 title, it must be confessed, is somewhat misleading, and those 

 w4io expect to find in the volume an account of the trees which 

 form our hedgerows and of the plants and other objects usually 

 associated with them will be disappointed. Perhaps allowance 

 must be made for transatlantic interpretations of words to which 

 we attach a definite meaning, for it must be confessed that the 

 frontispiece entitled " x\n English Lane " represents rather a fairly 

 wide and open country road. Anyway, the book is well written and 

 interesting, and there are numerous and admirable illustrations. 



Mr. W. Lawrence Balls publishes in Messrs. Macmillan's 

 " Science Series " a volume of studies in ph^'siology and genetics 

 in connection with The Cotton Plant in Egypt. After a brief 

 historical sketch the author devotes a section to " the individual 

 plant," its fertilization, cytology, and embryology, followed by its 

 development and environment; ** the race" is then discussed, 

 from the standpoints of fluctuation, commercial varieties, natural 

 crossing, and heredity ; another section treats of " economics," 

 and the book ends with a full bibliography and a good index. The 

 book is illustrated by 71 figures and diagrams. 



We greatly regret to announce the death, on Nov. 2nd, of 

 Mr. Henry Groves, of whom some account will appear in an 

 early issue. 



