

482 Scientific Intelligence. 



the vegetation of the other Australasian islands, and, indeed, 

 with that of continental India, that it can be studied intelligently 

 only through comparison with types in foreign herbaria and by 

 investigators familiar with Old World floras. 



Under these circumstances, it was a wise decision of the Carne- 

 gie Institution to make a grant, not for the investigation of the 

 Philippine flora in America, but to aid Dr. Janet Perkins in 

 studying the subject in Berlin, where with access to numerous 

 Old World types and with the counsel and collaboration of 

 highly trained specialists on the Asiatic and Australasian floras, 

 the work could be carried on in a far more scholarly manner. 

 It is accordingly with great regret that we learn that this grant 

 of the Carnegie Institution has not been renewed after the lirst 

 year. Dr. Perkins, however, has continued her examination of 

 the Philippine flora and a substantial installment of the results is 

 now at hand. 



The body of the present paper is occupied by an "Enumera-' 

 tion of some of the recently collected plants of Ahern, Jagor, 

 Lober, Merrill, Warburg and others." In this copiously annotated 

 list, including many diagnoses of new species and much critical 

 synonymy, the Beguminosae, Bipterocarpaceae, Anacardiaeeae, 

 Meliaceae, Pinaceae, and Taxaceae have been treated by Miss 

 Perkins herself, the Symplocaceae by Brand, Acanthaceae by 

 Lindau, Fagaceae by von Seemen, Typhaceae by Graebner, 

 Orchidaceae by Schlechter, Pahnae by Beccari, Myristicaceae, 

 Pandanaceae, and Begoniaceae by Warburg, and Sapindaceae 

 by Radfkofer, — names which amply attest the critical nature of 

 the work. 



In a paper of such composite authorship uniformity can scarcely 

 be expected, yet it is to be regretted that the diagnoses are partly 

 in Latin and partly in English, and that the arrangement of the 

 families is quite arbitrary, which in a publication as yet unin- 

 dexed gives needless difficulty of reference. Among the plants 

 discussed those of Mr. E. D. Merrill and of Dr. O. Warburg are 

 the most numerous and interesting. It is to be hoped that Dr. 

 Perkins may receive the encouragement and facilities in the con- 

 tinuance of her work which its scientific value so richly merits. 



B. L. R. 



8. Botanical Publications by the Bureau of Government 

 Laboratories at Manila. — A series of pamphlets are being issued 

 from time to time, under the auspices of the Department of the 

 Interior, from the Government Laboratories in Manila, of which 

 Mr. Paul C. Freer is Superintendent. Among these we note Nos. 

 6, 1 and 8, recently distributed, upon botanical subjects. No. 6 

 (36 pp.), by Elmer D. Merrill, describes new and noteworthy 

 Philippine plants, and also discusses the American element in the 

 Philippine flora. No. 7 (43 pp.), by Penoyer L. Sherman, Jr., 

 discusses the gutta percha and rubber of the Islands, describing 

 the various species and giving their distribution, with a map and 

 numerous illustrations. Suggestions are made in regard to the 



