A PLATX PLANTAIN 
m 
that we cannot but regret that they were not submitted to a botanist 
before publication. Although “intended to be of general not scien¬ 
tific interest,” the author would, we are sure, desire that they should 
be correct, and this unfortunately is not always the case. The fact 
that two very different plants bear the same English name is some¬ 
times responsible for this: thus Pellitor y (An act/cl us JPyretlirum) 
and Pellitory of the Wall ( Parietaria ) are treated as identical ; 
Saffron is defined as “ the reddish product of the Meadow Saffron or 
Autumnal Crocus.” “ Rosa Solis ‘ Rose of the Sun ’ ” is surely a 
misprint or a misreading of JRos Solis, the name of the Sundew; and 
we venture to doubt whether “the cordial Rosa Solis was originally 
made from or flavoured with the juice of” that plant. We suspect 
too that Madam Avery’s MS. has not always been accurately trans- 
scribed, although due allowance must be made for what Mr. Alexander 
calls the writer’s inconsequential spelling: “ Tonnentina ” (p. 34) 
and “ Featlierfeu ” (p. 35) and on the former page, “ Ralmea [Balnea ) 
Mariae ” are examples of what we mean; “ Pragnie ” (p. 35) as the 
name of a plant is new to us. The title of the book is explained by 
a reference to Love's Labour’s Lost —“ Or, Sir, a plantain, a plain 
plantain.” 
BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, etc. 
At the meeting of the Linnean Society on Jan. 18 Mrs. Helena 
Bandulska read a paper on “ The Cuticular Structure of certain 
Dicotyledonous and Coniferous Leaves from the Middle Eocene Flora 
of Bournemouth.” Since few Angiosperms are preserved as petri¬ 
factions, the systematic position of many leaf-impressions charac¬ 
teristic of some of the British Tertiaries is still open to question. 
Certain Eocene leaves possess cuticles, and it is hoped that their cuti¬ 
cular structure combined with their external form may aid identifica¬ 
tion. In the first part of the paper the name Dictophyllum was 
proposed for dicotyledonous leaves of uncertain affinity, and three new 
species— -JD. Stopesii, I). spiculatum, and J). sinuatum —were described 
from their cuticular structure. The second half of the paper deals 
with the cuticles of certain fossil conifers which are compared with 
known recent and fossil forms ; thus Araucarites Goepyertii Stern¬ 
berg is compared with Araucarias and Sequoias, and is thought to be 
a true but specifically distinct Araucaria , the evidence being based 
on its cuticular structure. Sequoia Tournalii Sap. is shown to be 
less like S. sempervirens in its cuticular structure than its external 
form would lead us to suppose, and is certainly specifically distinct. 
Taxodium europceum Sap. appears to resemble both T. distichum and 
Glyptostrobus in its cuticular structure, which is very unlike that of 
the Sequoias. It would seem to be a specifically distinct but true 
Taxodium whose cuticle is of a synthetic type. 
At the meeting of the same Society on Feb. 1, Sir Nicholas 
YermolofE read his “ Notes on Chcetoceros and allied genera, living 
and fossil,” of which the following is an abstract:—The Diatom 
genus Chcetoceros shows several peculiar features. It has been highly 
differentiated for pelagic life, and occurs in the planktons of the 
colder seas, sometimes, especially in spring, in colossal numbers. 
