SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. 
311 
still a debateable point, and therefore many of the diagrams would require 
modification to suit different views. 
Enlargement of the Keiv Buildings. — We learn from a contemporary that 
a new building will probably be erected at Kew to receive the national 
botanical library and the immense collections of dried plants at present 
deposited in a house which is too small and otherwise very inconvenient 
for purposes of study. The value of the collections at Kew to working 
botanists cannot be over-rated, and the admirable manner in which they are 
arranged is beyond all praise. There may be some difference of opinion as 
to the desirability of amalgamating the collections at Kew and the British 
Museum, but none as to the facilities and assistance afforded by the officers 
of both establishments to botanists in their researches. The only objection 
we can see to the maintenance of two collections is the possibility of the 
officers being rivals in the acquisition of additions to their respective estab- 
lishments ; but a proper understanding between them would remove this 
danger. 
Seer’s Arctic Flora. — A third volume of this valuable work has been 
recently published from materials collected by the Swedish Polar expedi- 
tions under the direction of Professor Nordenskiold. This volume admirably 
completes the work, by the superior character of its execution and by the 
interesting facts which it discloses in regard to the geological floras of the 
Arctic and Polar regions. It contains, 1st, a paper on the Carboniferous 
flora of the arctic zone (eleven pages and six plates) ; 2nd, the Cretaceous 
flora of the arctic zone (one hundred and forty pages with thirty-eight 
plates) ; 3rd, an appendix to the Miocene flora of Greenland (three pages and 
five plates) ; and 4th, a general division of the Miocene flora of the arctic 
zone (twenty-four pages). 
The Red Colouring Matter of the Algce. — A paper was read before the 
Linnaean Society (May 6), “ On the Characteristic Colouring Matter of the 
Bed Groups of Algae,” by Mr. H. 0. Sorby, F.B.S. Mr. Sorby gave an ac- 
count of some of the leading characters of the various remarkable blue, purple, 
and red substances, soluble in water, characteristic of red Algae. The com- 
pound nature of the solutions obtained from the plants may be proved by 
the varying decomposing action of heat on the different colouring matters. 
He also showed that, though the Oscillatoria and Floridea both yield closely 
related colouring substances, their specific differences serve to separate those 
two groups of Algae quite as much as their general structure. Connecting 
links do indeed occur, and the further study of this question will probably 
yield interesting results. Specimens illustrating these facts were exhibited. 
Flora of the Island of Amsterdam. — The “ Athenaeum,” writing on this 
subject, observes that it is a curious fact that the little island of Amsterdam, 
in the South Indian Ocean, is known to be covered with trees, whilst the 
island of St. Paul’s, only fifty miles to the south, is destitute of even a 
shrub. Botanists have long been anxious to determine the character of the 
Amsterdam forest, but the difficulty of effecting a landing on the island has 
generally prevented the collection of specimens. In a late part of the 
4 ‘ Journal of the Linnaean Society,” Dr. Hooker announces that at length he 
has received the desired specimens, these having been collected by Com- 
modore Goodenough, who states that they represent the only species of tree 
