J^ez'icws and Book Notices, 



271 



in structure, though somewhat smaUer ; the pistillate ones are 

 nearly sessile and have similar staminodal nectaries, and the 

 hairs on the ovary are bulbous at the base. When drj-ing, 

 both kinds turn blue, and both are reputed poisonous. 



Many minor variations occur in the Dog's Mercury, due 

 sometimes to position, to soil, or to accident. The most 

 noteworthy that have come under my observation are given 

 below. 



Knowing that many organs which are looked upon as 

 degenerate (vestiges) sometimes abnormally revert as it is 

 termed to the original structure, I have examined a great 

 number of pistillate flowers to see if any of the staminodes 

 bearing traces of anthers at their tips could be found, but in 

 this respect without success. However, the search revealed 

 occasional specimens w^here stamens were present, along with 

 the staminodes and pistil in the same flower, and a number 

 of examples from different localities where both staminate and 

 pistillate flowers were present on the same spike, making these 

 plants exceptionally monoecious, and also in two instances 

 pistillate flowers with distincth^ three-lobed ovaries, three 

 styles and three staminodes, of which a diagram (Fig. 20) is 

 given. 



It will be remembered that the spurges belonging to the 

 same natural order have typically three-lobed ovaries. 



In some localities some of the mature shoots may frequently 

 be found flowering sparingly in autumn ; but the probability 

 of ripe seeds being formed from such belated (?) specimens is 

 very remote indeed. 



From Messrs. Con^tible & Co. we have received the first two parts of 

 * The Country Home ' a new monthly, issued at 6d. net. It has a very 

 attractive cover, and deals with old houses, furniture, horticulture, motor- 

 ing, botany, the making of lawns, caterpillars and their protective devices-, 

 and other subjects likely to be of interest to those who occupy a country 

 home. 



Naturalists and would-be naturalists are well catered for now-a-days, 

 and recently there has been quite a crop of new publications for their 

 benefit. From Messrs. Cassell we have just received part T. of 'The Nature 

 Book' (yd., to be completed in 24 fortnightly parts). The frontispiece is 

 a coloured reproduction of a painting, ' A Kentish garden,' by INIrs. AUing- 

 ham. Mr. Crane writes on the Love of Nature ; Mr. Bird writes on Birds ; 

 Mr. English describes wild animals (? mammals) ; Mr. W. J. S. Lockyer 

 tells of the clouds ; Mr. Fitzgerald informs us how to know the wild flowers ; 

 and Mr. Henry Irving photographs and describes the trees. Tiiere is an 

 excellent collection of illustrations from photographs, thougu many of 

 them seem fairly familiar to us. 



1908 July 1 . 



