NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



139 



crop for a year or more. No lime or alkaline form of fertiliser should 

 be used until the roots of the tobacco are free from the disease. — M. C. C. 



Variation and Mutilation. By M. L. Blaringhem (Jour. Soc. Nat. 

 Hort. Fr. 4th series, vol. ix. ; November 1907, p. 640).— M. Blaringhem 

 claims to have produced variations as the result of partial mutilations of 

 leaves and stems— the maize being the plant more particularly experi- 

 mented on — and asserts that the structural changes produced are 

 considerable, and may be transmitted to the progeny. — M. L. II. 



Variation of Oenothera. By G. A. Boulenger (Jour. Bot. 53S, 

 pp. 353-363 ; 10 1907). — A description of a series of observations and 

 measurements of the flowers of Oe. biennis from several localities, from 

 which it is concluded that De Vries's Oe. Lamarckiana is merely the 

 result of crossing various forms of the polymorphic Oe. biennis and affords 

 no evidence of mutation. — G. S. B. 



Viburnum Utile* By W. B. Hemsley (Bot. Mag. tab. 8174).— Nat. 

 ord. Caprifoliaceae, tribe Sambuceac. China. Shrub 4-5 feet high ; 

 leaves glabrous above, tomentose below ; corolla white. — G. II. 



Wallflowers, Mauve. By M. Houssy (Le Jard. vol. xxii. No. 501, 

 p. 12 ; January 5, 1908). — Mm. Rivoire have produced a new variety of 

 their celebrated Nice wallflower. The colour is described as " violet clair." 

 This colour-designation is adopted by " Le Jardin " to keep the nomen- 

 clature in line with the list of colours published by the Chrysanthemum 

 Society of France, which is there regarded as the official guide to 

 horticultural colours. It would be a boon if some such system could be 

 adopted in English horticulture. — F. A. W. 



White Grubs (Lachnosterna), Life History, Habits, and 

 Economic Relations of. By S. A. Forbes (U.S.A. Exp. Stn., 

 Illinois, Bull. 116 ; 8/07). — This pamphlet gives a very complete account 

 of the history, so far as it has been made out, of the grubs of several 

 species of Lachnosterna known in Illinois. The British representatives 

 of this group are well known as " Chafers," and the habits of our species, 

 though differing in small details, are in the main quite similar to those 

 reported here. In one experiment detailed, pigs were found to be a very 

 efficient means of ridding a field of these pests. Unfortunately one of 

 the intestinal parasites of pigs (Echinorhynchus gigas) passes one stage of 

 its life in the chafer grubs, so that where either pigs or grubs are known 

 to be infested the former cannot be used as a means of extirpating the 

 latter.—^ 7 . /. C. 



Widdringtonia in South Tropical Africa. By A. B. Rendle 

 (Jour. Bot. 522, pp. 190-191, pi. 479 b ; 6/1906). — A discussion of fresh 

 material from Umtali, Rhodesia, where the trees are known as M cedars." 

 Both the Retinospora and the Cupressus type of foliage occur, and the 

 author figures leaf-sections, and concludes that W. Mahoni of Dr. Masters 

 is specifically identical with W. Whytei. — G. S. B. 



