289 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



BOTANICAL SURVEY AT THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 

 At the recent meeting- of the British Association at Cambridg e, 

 one of the morning-s was occupied by papers on the ecology 

 and distribution of native plants. Prof. A. G. Tansley (London), 

 summarised recent progress, and gave the men of the north 

 due credit for their work. Ecolog"ical work is now tending" along; 

 two tracks — the general or botanical survey, and the more 

 special. The former was ably dealt with in a paper by Dr. 

 W. G. Smith. The method, which is now fairly well known 

 to the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union, was compared with similar 

 surveys now in progress in France and Germany, and the results 

 already attained were briefly summarised and points for future 

 consideration suggested. The kind of work included under the 

 latter was exemplified by a paper by Mr. T. W. Woodhead on 

 'The Ecology of \Voodland Plants.' Common plants like 

 Bracken, Bilberry, Bluebell, Holcus mollis, Aira flexiiosa, and 

 others, were dealt with in regard to distribution in light and 

 shade, and the correlated variations in external form and 

 internal structure which accompany changed conditions. 



Altogether the Y.N. Union had good reason to be satisfied 

 with their contribution. 



DEVELOPMENT OF A DIATOM. 



' The Development of Cocconema cishila (Diatomaceas) ' is the 

 title of a paper by Mr. C. Turner in the ' Annual Report and 

 Transactions of the Manchester Microscopical Society for 1903.' 

 In this the author expresses the opinion that C. cistula is 

 reproduced from a minute spore by a process of growth which 

 gives rise to one, two, three, or four diatoms. Mr. Turner's 

 observations were made upon specimens collected in a drain in 

 Willoughby Fields, near Alford. The paper is illustrated by 

 a plate show^ing the development of the diatom from a spore. 

 In the same report Mr. J. E. Lord contributes some notes, 

 including the description of a new rotifer, Diaschiza crassipes, 

 found near Rawtenstall. 



BELEMNITE NOMENCLATURE. 



In the August 'Geological Magazine' Mr. G. C. Crick has 

 a paper bearing' upon the question of the nomenclature of 

 Belemnites. It appears that in 1823 J. S. Miller described 

 certain forms to which he gave the name of Actinocamax — 



iqo4 Occober i. t 



