BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, ETC. 
03 
The Terns of Bombay have hitherto failed to receive adequate 
attention from botanists and amateurs: this is probably to be 
explained, as the Rev. E. Blatter and J. F. d’Almeida tell us in 
their book about them (Taraporevala & Co., Bombay, price 7-8 r.), by 
the absence of ferns near the centres of human commerce and by the 
inaccessibility of the fern-forests during the rainy season. In the 
northern parts of the Presidency semi-desert conditions prevail, while 
in the southern parts, especially south of Mahableshwar, the rainfall 
is heavy and the fern vegetation luxuriant. Only a few scattered 
lists of the Bombay ferns have been published previously, the best 
being that of T. R. M. Macpherson containing 75 species,, which 
appeared in Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. v. p. 375 (1891). The 
present authors, following the classification employed by Beddome in 
his Handbook of the Ferns of British India, have furnished a total 
of 143 species, three-fourths of which are native to the Presidency. 
The rest are found in cultivation, being introduced from Madras or 
other parts of India, or from so far away as Fiji, New Zealand, South 
America ; their inclusion in the book will be of great assistance to 
the student. The text is simple and easily understood, and the 
determination of specimens is facilitated by the number of keys. 
The numerous figures, though often roughly reproduced, are, like the 
photographs, of great help in showing at a glance those points of 
fern-morphology which words alone cannot adequately describe. 
Parts 1 and 2 (printed as one) of vol. viii. of the Transactions 
Mycological Society contain an account of the Worcester Foray held 
last September, with a list by Miss Wakefield of the Fungi collected, 
of the Mycetozoa by Miss Lister, and of the Lichens by Mr. H. H. 
Knight, and the Presidential Address of Mr. Carleton Pea, who 
passed in review the work of the Society since its foundation in 1896. 
There are numerous papers, beginning with one on “ The Parasitism 
of Nectria cinnabarina (Coral Spot), with special reference to its 
action on Red Currant ” (with one plate), by Mr. J. Line ; Mr. Rams- 
bottom reprints from Messrs. Charlesworth’s Catalogue for 1922 his 
important essay on “Orchid Mycorrhiza ” (7 plates), and Dr. M. C. 
Rayner writes on “Mycorrhiza in the Ericaceie ” ; “An Eocene 
Microtheriaceous Fungus from Mull, Scotland ” (1 plate), is described 
by Mr. W. N. Edwards ; Mr. Gr. H. Cunningham writes on “A sin¬ 
gular Cordyceys from New Zealand ((7. Kirkii , sp. n.) 57 (1 plate) ; 
“The Structure and Affinities of Leuconostoc mesenteroides 77 are 
discussed by Mr. W. B. Crow ; Dr. W. T. Elliott writes on “ The 
Mycophagous Propensities of Slugs ” ; and Messrs. Gr. R. Bisby and 
A. H. R. Buller contribute a “Preliminary List of Manitoba Fungi.’ 7 
There is presumably some reason for the adoption of large black 
capitals for the headings of all the papers; but the effect is 
aggressive and ugly. 
In the Annual Report of the Department of Agriculture, Pretoria, 
for the year ending with June, 1922, Miss Ethel Dodge, Acting Chief 
of the Division of Botany and Plant Patholog} r , gives a summary of the 
work in plant pathology and mycology. Miss Stent spent two months 
at the Kew Herbarium on a special study of South African grasses, 
