151 
Graminum " appeared. It in no ique advances, and in many ways 
retards, the student of the Order. Of more recent works on Graminec 
three only are of great mai namely, Msn: s very able monograph of 
the Bambusee (Tran Linn, Soc., vol xxvi, 1868); Bentham’s 
revision of the genera, eet Plant., vol. iii, (1883), a work of remark- 
able completeness and accuracy, considering the chaotic condition in 
which the author doo the = as and Hackel’s admirable Dopage 
of the Andro menagon in A. de Ca ndolle * Monogr. TERES, X vol. v 
It is doubtful if any living botanist could have brought to the task 
the extraordinary zodat which Sir Joseph Hooker possesses of dealing 
with an immense mass of confused pr complicated detail and of 
arriving at clear and definite conclusions from them. To Dr. Stapf, a 
member of the Kew staff, the duty was assigned of assisting Sir Joseph 
Hooker in the more laborious portion of his task. To the efficient aid 
which he rendered Sir Joseph Hooker nd a compliment as charming 
as it is deserved. 
Distribution of Alpine Plants.— The Linnean Society has published 
in its 7'ransactions the elaborate tables showing “The Distribution of 
Plants on the south side of the Alps" prepared by the late John 
Ball, F.R.S., Under Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1855-7. 
The work of preparing them for and passing them ina the press 
has been done at Kew. The following extracts from the “ Intro- 
duetory Note? contributed by the Director will show te nature of the 
task which Mr. Ball set himself. The result cannot fail to be of the 
greatest service for the study of the problems presented by the Alpine 
Flora, which are amongst the most interesting of those presented by the 
vegetation of any part of the earth's surface :— 
The late Mr. John Ball F.R.S. as is well known, devoted a 
considerable portion of a very varied life to the minate study, 
The re 
topographical and scientific, of the Eu uropean Alps sults of the 
former were embodied in a book, which, in its way, w will, I S 
always remain a classic, the well- known “ Alpine Guide." ‘Those of the 
latter he never published in a comprehensive form, though he raw from. 
time to time for occasional papers upon the records which he had 
patiently accumulated for a period of about 30 
Mr. Ball died on October 21, 1889, enbat unexpectedly, after a 
brief illness. Some time afterw. ards his widow placed in my hands his 
botanical papers in the hope that I might be able to extract from them 
something of permanent value which would record his long and patient 
abours upon the Alpine flora. The task was no easy one, , and I think I 
should have shrunk from it without the encouragement of Mr. G. 
Coat ee a surviving authority in the country on the subject, 
aker, F. RS. ., the Keeper of the Kew Herbarium. 
Ai the fen I pen that practically the whole of Mr. Ball’s work on 
the flora of the ps is concentrated in the elaborate Table of the 
Distribution of Plants on the South Side of the Alps which is now 
submitted to the Society. 
The precise nature of the task which Mr. Ball set himseif, is described 
in a lecture ** On the Origin of the Flora of the European Alps," which 
he delivered before the Royal ee Society on June 9, 1879 
It will be best given in his own 
ore than 20 years ago I be is to aia the plants of the Alps, 
so as to show the distribution of each species within the range of the 
