226 



Notes and Comments. 



part of his well-known Moss Flora of the British Islands^ 

 a work which has occupied every moment of his ' spare " 

 time during the past quarter of a century. The first instal- 

 ment of this monumental work (which occupies three large 

 volumes) was issued in 1887 — the final part has just appeared. 

 The 'Moss Flora' contains drawings and descriptions of the 

 625 species now known to exist in the British Isles. All through 

 the work the author has selected the first specific name and 

 date when the plant first came to be established as an individual 

 entity, and he has continued its history, through all its synonyms^ 

 and literature of all countries, to the present time — commencing, 

 of course, with Linnaeus' 'Species Plantarum ' (1753). The 

 drawings, consisting of several thousand figures, occupy no 

 fewer than 128 large plates. They have been done by Dr. 

 Braithwaite himself, and are ver}' fine indeed. This is the more 

 remarkable when it is known that the drawing for the last plate 

 was finished on his 80th birthday — the last page of text being 

 completed on his 8ist birthday. It is perhaps unnecessary to 

 add that our author ib a Yorkshireman, being a native of 

 Whitby, though he has lived in London nearly all his life. 

 We should like to congratulate Dr. Braithwaite on the com- 

 pletion of his task, and trust that he may long be spared to 

 have the pleasure of seeing his work being well used by all 

 students of the mosses and hepatics. 



YORK ANTIQUITIES. 



The Annual Report of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society 

 for 1904 contains much useful information of particular value to 

 York people. W^e are glad to notice that an effort is being- 

 made to render the Gardens more educationally useful, and a 

 scheme has been drawn up for treating a portion as a botanic 

 garden, under the direction of Mr. H. J. Wilkinson, assisted by 

 the Rev. J. J. Briggs. Amongst the items in the Report of 

 interest to readers of the ' Naturalist ' are ' Notes on an 

 Intrenchment on Holgate Hill,' by Mr. G. Benson, in which 

 reference is made to some local British implements. Two of 

 the illustrations accompanying Mr. Benson's paper are here 

 reproduced by the permission of the Society. Bound up with 

 the report is a reprint of Dr. Tempest Anderson's paper 

 ' On Certain Recent Changes in the Crater of Stromboli,^ 

 which appeared in the 'Geographical Journal' for February 

 last 



Naturalist^ 



