6o6 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the blossoms and know that Segun has been there and Peboan has 

 gone away. 



Other interesting additions to collected plant-legends may be found 

 in the inclusion of Longfellow's pretty tale of " The Bell of Atri " under 

 the subject Bryony, the origin of the Cotton pod, Maize, Indian Plume, 

 the Maguey (Agave), Alligator's Tail, and Micah Rood's blood-stained 

 apples, which last seem to be akin to the old-fashioned kind known as 

 Sops-in-wine. 



It is a pity that most of the plants are mentioned under their 

 popular names only, and in some cases it is difficult to identify them. 

 The author is wrong in stating that Holly is a corrupted form of the 

 word " holy," for it is but the equivalent of the old English holegn, hoUen, 

 holn, and holme, which last we still use in the name Holm-oak for the 

 Evergreen Oak. The spelling of generic names with a small letter is a 

 trick that is very annoying to the eye of an English botanist. Then 

 again Camelia, Escholzia and Wisteria, and Mi for aei need correction 

 in spelling. Rosemary is not " fond of the water" but of very dry 

 places on the coast, and therefore was thought to rejoice in sea-spray or 

 sea-dew, ros maris or ros marinus. It strikes one as exceedingly 

 American to find Ivy dealt with under the heading of " The Vines," 

 but it must surely have been an accident while in the printer's hands 

 that has suppressed the heading " Betel " and caused the account of 

 its nuts to be joined on to that of the Beech, even in this the second 

 edition. Still the book is good enough to deserve a third edition 

 and the righting of these wrongs. 



" Saxifrages or Rockfoils." By Walter Irving and Reginald A. 

 Malby. 8vo., 147 pp. (Headley, London, 1914.) 2s. dd. net. 



Two such authorities on Saxifrages as Messrs. Irving and Malby 

 might be expected to produce a really useful book on the subject, 

 and in this expectation nobody reading it will be disappointed. 



Saxifrages are arranged under their groups, and a description 

 given of each. The cultural directions given by these experienced 

 hands are, in the main, all that could be wished, one's only com- 

 plaint being that they might have been a little amplified with advan- 

 tage. One would have been glad, for instance, to have had the 

 authors' experiences of the cultural needs of Englerias. Sunny positions 

 are recommended, but in the reviewer's experience Griesbachii does 

 better in half shade, and the same is also true of all the Burseriana 

 hybrids. 



There is an extremely useful chapter on Saxifrage hybrids, and 

 a charming chapter by Dr. Salter on the species found in the Pyrenees. 



A word of praise must be given to the illustrations, and altogether 

 the book is one which no rock gardener interested in Saxifrages can 

 afford to be without. 



