Short Notes and Queries. 



155 



addition to our West Yorkshire flora, which now numbers 348 species, 

 inclusive of one — Amblystegiimi heterodadum, Mgg. — which is absolutely 

 new to Britain, and which I hope soon to describe. — F. A. Lees. 



Obituary- — Dr. Schimpee. — It is with much regret we have this 

 month to chronicle the death of our greatest modern bryologist — Dr. 

 Wilhelm Phillippe Schimper, Professor at the University, and Director 

 of the Museum, at Strasbourg, which took place on the 20th March last. 

 Our space will not allow of any extended notice of the life of this great 

 botanist ; but his works, which have made his name of world-wide 

 renown, must have our humble tribute to their value. His greatest 

 work, the Bryologia Europea, which contains descriptions and magnificent 

 plates of all the then known European species of mosses, was the result of 

 the joint labours of M. Bruch and himself. Its publication commenced 

 in 1836, when M, Schimper would be only 28 years of age, and the last 

 portion — Corollarium — was completed 19 years afterwards (1855). The 

 first edition of his Synopsis Muscorum Europ?eorum " was published in 

 1860, followed in 1864-5 by the " Supplementum Bryologia, or Musci 

 Europeei ISTovi," of which only some four or five parts were issued ; and 

 in the beginning of 1876 a second and much enlarged edition was issued 

 of the '^Synopsis." Dr. Schimper paid visits to England more than 

 once, the last occasion being in 1866, when he made collecting excursions 

 to Scotland and Ireland in company with Mr. Wilson, Dr. Wood, Dr. 

 Moore, Mr. Hunt, &c. His name is commemorated in the specific 

 designations of several mosses ; but, apart from that, his published 

 works are sufficient to perpetuate the renown of this great and accom- 

 plished bryologist. 



NOTICES OF BOOKS, &c.—'' The Geological Antiquity of Insects, 

 by Herbert Goss, F.L.S., &c." : London, Yan Voorst (Is. 6d.)— Under 

 the above title Mr. Goss has republished, in a separate form, the twelve 

 papers on Fossil Entomology, with additions, which he has contributed 

 to the Entomologists^ Monthly Magazine, vols. xv. and xvi. We desire, 

 and can confidently recommend to aU our entomological friends the 

 careful perusal of this reprint, in the full assurance that they will be 

 amply repaid. It contains a compendious account of all that is known on 

 the subject, with copious references to all the chief authors and their 

 works, who have investigated this interesting study, which has been too 

 much neglected in England. Our space wiU not permit us to enter into 

 any detailed account of its contents, but we may say that it contains 

 detailed lists for each geological formation, both in England and abroad, 

 of the^ orders, genera, and in some cases species, of the remains of insects 

 which have been found or recorded down to the present date, and we 

 trust only forms the basis for a much larger work on the same subject, 

 which we are .convinced our author is well qualified to undertake, and 

 bring to a successful issue. Let all our entomological and geological 

 friends obtain it without delay. 



