816 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



base. The leaves vary in size from 4 to 8 inches in length and to 

 2 inches across, and are arranged in whorls. In its native habitat 

 the flower is little more than 1^ inch across, under cultivation it is 

 2^ inches. Another curious point is the colour ; in Uganda it is white, 

 while at Kew it is pale lilac, with often a rosy tint. Had the plant been 

 in cultivation for a few years this variation would have caused little 

 comment, but occurring on plants raised from the seed collected in its 

 native habitat the matter is interesting. Nat. ord. Geraniacece. ; tribe 

 Balsaminece. A glabrous herb, 4 feet high, with four to eight whorled 

 oblong-lanceolate leaves. — E. T. C. 



India, The Flora of British. By Sir J. D. Hooker (Journ. Bot. 

 500, pp. 221-227 ; 8/1904). — A chapter in the descriptive volume of 

 " The Indian Empire " of the new edition of the " Imperial Gazetteer of 

 India," giving in less than six octavo pages an admirable summary of the 

 constituents of the flora and of their distribution. Of the 176 natural 

 orders, comprising 17,000 species, the largest is OrcJiidece, with more than 

 1,600 species, ten of which, from the Western Himalaya, are terrestrial 

 British species.— G. S. B. 



Inocybe, A Monograph of the Genus. By G. Massee (Ann. Bot. 

 xviii. July 1904, pp. 459-502 ; 1 plate). — Of all the genera of the Agari- 

 cinea?, Inocybe is the most difficult to recognise in the field. A new 

 system of classification is suggested by the author, based mainly on the 

 characters of the epispore and the presence or absence of cystidia. A list 

 and description of species follow, arranged according to the new system. 



A. D. C. 



Insecticides and Fungicides.— By A. B. Cordley {U.S.A. Exp. 

 Stn. Oregon, Bull. No. 75, 1903, pp. 23-43).— This bulletin gives brief but 

 useful directions for the preparation and use of various insecticides and 

 fungicides ; also methods of spraying, dusting, and fumigating. The 

 various formula? which have been used in this country have previously 

 been notified in the Society's Journal. — B. N. 



Insecticide Studies. By J. K. Haywood (U.S.A. Dep. Agr< Bur. 

 Chem., Bull. 76, 1903, pp. 1-63).— This valuable contribution gives the 

 result of a series of chemical analyses of a large number of miscellaneous 

 insecticides, one of the most important results being the detection of 

 lead chromate in Persian insect powder or Dalmatian insect powder. As 

 lead chromate is known to be poisonous, it would appear that it is a very 

 reprehensible practice to add it to pyrethrum powders, since they are 

 often blown about living-rooms with bellows to kill insects, and are 

 consequently inhaled by human beings. Besides this, pyrethrum is 

 almost invariably claimed to be harmless to human beings, which it is 

 when pure, but ceases to be so when it has been mixed with lead 

 chromate or other yellow-coloured cbromates. — B. N. 



Insecticides for Orchard and Bush-fruit. By Cecil Warburton 

 (Jour. U.A.S. vol. lxiii. 1902, figs. 1 12, pp. 115- 134).— Some eighteen 



