SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. 
425 
the author thinks insufficient, and shows that the power resides in the in- 
dividual cells of the awn, which when isolated behave precisely as the whole 
awn, with regard to moisture, heat, and dryness.” 
A Lichen rare in Great Britain . — The occurrence of Thelocarpon Laureri 
in Britain is so rare, that its appearance in great quantity is worth recording. 
Three habitats are given for it in Leighton’s “ Lichen-Flora,” all in Shrop- 
shire ; and, says Mr. W. Phillips, writing in the “Journal of Botany,” No. 161, 
“ I have now to add a fourth, also in the same county. In the autumn of 
1874 a plantation on the Arcoll Hill, an outlier of the Wrekin, by some 
accident was set on fire, and a large portion was destroyed. The under- 
growth, consisting of heather, bilberry, brakefern, &c., was so dry that no 
efforts were able to arrest the flames till the whole area enclosed by the 
cart-ways for drawing timber was left bare and black ; these formed an 
effectual barrier and arrested the conflagration. The damage extended over 
several hundred acres. Last autumn a new growth of vegetation began to 
make its appearance on the charred surface, amongst which were conspicu- 
ous Marchantia polymorpha , Funaria hygrometrica (la Charbonniere), seed- 
lings of Pteris aquilina f and a quantity of fungi, such as Agaricus carbonarius, 
Fr., Peziza trachycarpa , Curr., Bhizina nndulata , Fr. On visiting the place 
this spring I found on the peaty portions a large quantity of Thelocarpon 
Laureri , in small patches from an inch to a foot across, extending over a 
very large area. At first sight I mistook it for the early growth of a 
Lichen-thallus, but when once recognised the eye became accustomed to its 
peculiar citron colour and scattered mode of growth.” 
CHEMISTRY. 
Errors of the New Catalogue of the Loan Collection. — The “ Academy ” 
(August 12) has published a report on this book which has dealt justly, but 
severely, with the authors, whoever they are. It says : — “ While the col- 
lection may be justly styled scientific, that term cannot be applied to the 
method in which the objects are classified in the catalogue, and many of the 
blunders are of such a character that it is hard to conceive it possible that 
they could escape the notice of a printer’s reader, still less that they should 
pass unchallenged the scrutiny of a scientific editor.” After giving a series 
of the errata, the article thus concludes : — u In printing the names and ad- 
dresses of the contributors the same want of accuracy has been shown, and so 
we read of the ‘ Physical Institute of the University of Freiberg, Baden.’ In 
many cases the foreign names of pieces of apparatus have not been translated 
at all, although an English equivalent is to be found without difficulty : we 
meet, for example, with such words as 1 etuve,’ 1 stativ,’ ‘ bobine,’ &c. ; 
others again which have been rendered into English are not in the form 
familiar to the man of science : such are, ( charcoal sticks ’ for carbon 
points, 1 effective substance’ for active principle, ‘Grove pile,’ ‘chroites 
crystals,’ ‘ rhomboid of Iceland spar,’ &c. The mode of rendering other 
scientific terms in common use in England is equally unhappy, and of 
these we may instance 1 atterism,’ ‘ apparatuses,’ 1 a chemical harmonica,’ and 
