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THE recent number of the Icones Plantarum bears further testimony to Sir Joseph Hooker's assiduity, making, as it does, the seventh of the eight parts devoted to Indian Orchidacea, the letterpress of which is entirely from his pen. An incidental note in the present instalment gives some notion of the labour which this has involved, and at the same time conveys a graceful tribute to the artist. The analyses of the orchids figured in these Icones, and those described in the pages of the Flora of British India, have been a work of great labour, executed first by myself at various periods between 1882 and 1892; and those of the Icones have been more recently, and quite independently, revised by my accomplished artist, Miss Smith, who has portrayed the results of our analyses, together with the drawings of the plants themselves."

THIS recognition of the help rendered is fully in accord with the best traditions, and contrasts somewhat strangely with the action taken in other quarters. We noted at p. 95 the omission of the author's name from the last edition of the Guide to Miss North's paintings at Kew, and we see that no one is responsible for the "Flora of St. Vincent" which occupies the last number (September) of the Kew Bulletin. Internal evidence points to Mr. R. A. Rolfe as the compiler, but it is to be regretted that his name is not mentioned, if only for convenience of citation. The Bulletin itself has never appeared under any editor's name; and although we believe it to be understood that Mr. D. Morris edits the "miscellaneous information" it contains, this is nowhere stated.

THE enumeration of the St. Vincent plants is prefaced by an introductory note on the island, and followed by a summary from which it appears that the total number of flowering plants collected in St. Vincent and the four adjacent islets,-Bequia, Cannonan, Mustique, and Union,-including naturalised plants and those inserted on the authority of the early collectors, is about 1150. The following species are endemic Trigynæa antillana Rolfe.

Spachea perforata Juss.

Meliosma Herberti Rolfe.

Calliandra Guildingii Benth.

Psidium Guildingianum Griseb.

Gustavia antillana Miers.
Tibouchina cistoides Griseb.
Begonia rotundifolia Lam.

Hoffmannia tubiflora Griseb.
Malouetia retroflexa Muell. Arg.
Columnea speciosa Presl.
Peperomia cuneata Miq.
P. Vincentiana Miq.
Croton Guildingii Griesb.
Epidendrum Vincentianum Lindl.
Tillandsia megastachya Baker.

The Trigynaa and Meliosma are here first described.

AN account of Colonel Robert Kyd, the founder of the Calcutta Botanic Gardens, is published in the fourth volume of its Annals. He is described as "a keen gardener," but it does not appear that he had any knowledge of plants botanically, although the foundation of so important a garden as that at Calcutta gives him a claim to the esteem and respect of botanists. Some scanty information regarding him is given in the Biographical List, to which Dr. King's memoir enables us to add that he was of an old Forfarshire family, and was born in 1746. A portrait, copied from a coloured crayon

in possession of the Agricultural Society of India, is prefixed to the notice.

THE second part of the Index Kewensis has been passed for press, and may be expected very shortly. This concludes the first of the two volumes, and brings the enumeration down to the end of J (Justicia). So far the work occupies 1268 pages. The following errors in our review of the first part should be corrected:-p. 311, 1. 22 from top, for "Pritzel," read “ Steudel"; p. 313, 1. 3 from top, for "1760," read "1768"; p. 816, 1. 14 from bottom, for "Warmingia," read "Warmingii"; 1. 14, for "1827," read "1887."

THE aëration of the seeds of Leguminosa, of which Prof. Borzí writes in Malpighia (vii. 1893, pp. 3-14), formed the subject of two papers (with illustrations) by Prof. A. H. Church, published in this Journal for 1864, pp. 120-122; 1865, p. 824.

THE Stationery Office has published Mr. Scott Elliot's Report on the Botany of Sierra Leone-a result of the expedition in which he took part in 1891-2. The economic side of the subject is alone dealt with, as the botanical results will shortly be published by the Linnean Society, and will no doubt contain full information as to certain unfamiliar names which appear in the Report. We are glad to learn that Dr. Dyer "is at present engaged in monographing the genus" Landolphia, as no doubt this will involve the definition of certain nude names for which he is understood to be responsible, and which appear in the Kew Gardens Report for 1880 and elsewhere. In this Report it was stated (see Journ. Bot. 1882, 239) that Dr. Dyer proposed to "communicate descriptions of the new species to the Linnean Society," but this has not yet been done, and it is gratifying to learn that the work is in progress.

THE Department of Botany of the British Museum has acquired the great collection of Diatomaceae made by Mr. Julien Deby, which was long without a rival, except in the extensive and valuable series already in the Museum. Mr. Deby's collection consists of a very rich series, arranged systematically; a series of "spread slides"; the collections of Lawrance Hardman, Donkin, Cleve and Möller, Tempere and Peragallo; a fine series of Walker Arnott's; a smaller collection illustrating deposits and geographical areas; and a remarkable series of "type slides." Mr. Deby has had the whole catalogued, and reference to his collection is thus immensely facilitated. Together with the British Museum collections previously acquired, and containing the types of Greville, William Smith, O'Meara, Ralfs, Gregory, H. L. Smith, Delogne, Van Heurck, and many others, the whole series now in the Department of Botany may be estimated at about 50,000 slides of Diatoms of definite botanical and historical value. The union of these great collections, and their accessibility to students, form matter for congratulation to the large class of diatomists in this country.

WE are glad to learn that the unpublished material, including many drawings, which the late Mr. R. D. Fitzgerald had accumulated for his Australian Orchids is to be issued in due course by his son, who bears the same name.

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