276 The Museum Gazette 



is choked in the struggle for life by the existence or overgrowth of 

 other plants better suited to the environment ; and that the cypress- 

 spurge, not finding itself able to cope with its surroundings, disap- 

 peared. — From Knowledge, August, 1906. 



A CROYDON correspondent writes : " I was especially interested 

 in your ' Editorial Notes' in the September number of the MUSEUM 

 Gazette. Here, in Croydon, with a population of over 200,000, there 

 is no such thing as a museum, our nearest being Forest Hill (L.C.C.), 

 which is in very good hands, and provided with a lot of good material, 

 but too far away for us. What is required is something in the town." 



Distribution of Helix acuta. — We are indebted to Mr. R. 

 Welch, of Belfast, for pointing out an error in the paragraph on 

 p. 185 of our last issue. He writes that this species occurs in every 

 maritime county in Ireland ; that it does not occur inland in Ulster, 

 but wherever friable and loose gravelly limestone occurs there it is 

 in myriads. 



Potato Disease.— Mr. John Chuter writes: "I have read with 

 great interest the article in this month's Museum Gazette on the 

 potato blight ; the remarks as to some sets being quite sound when 

 dug up is interesting. Whether the presence of the mycelium of the 

 Phytophthora is the cause of their not rotting is hard to say, but this 

 year, in my own garden, the non-rotting of the sets has been very 

 marked, quite a large number not having decayed in the usual way, 

 and I find this occurs much more with the whole sets than those 

 that had been cut for planting. I have for some years past noted 

 that where the sets have not rotted the crop is greatly affected, the 

 new tubers being less in quantity and smaller in size. I have con- 

 sulted with some practical growers as to this, and their observations 

 seem to confirm my own as to the effect it has on the crop. 



" I suppose the explanation of this would be that the plant had 

 not received the benefit from the present set it ought to have done 

 and was therefore not in a condition to produce a heavy crop. Have 

 you noticed this ?" 



