Page:Journal of botany, British and foreign, Volume 34 (1896).djvu/113

 HANDBOOK OP GBASSES. 98 On p. 208, the leaves of Leucobryum are erroneously stated to be '* destitute of a midrib," whereas they really consist of an expanded midrib, to the lower margins of which the inconspicuous remains of the wings of the lamina are confined. Tesselina is correctly spelt on p. 41, but incorrectly on pp. 42, 68, 69, and in the Index. A. Gepp. Handbook of Grasses. By W. Hutchinson. Swan Sonnenschein & Co. Price 2s. 6d. A CHEAP handbook of British Grasses will be welcome to agri- cultural botanists, especially if it contains figures which are accurate enough to enable the student to identify species. Unfortunately Mr. Hutchinson's book, in its method of arrangement, its descrip- tions, and its woodcuts, will not be of great use to farmers or students. To a botanist, the separation of the species in the author's classification by the habitat is annoying, and even those who are acquainted with the habits of the grasses will be puzzled to know in which of the eight groups any given species is to be found. The practical agriculturist will be surprised not to find couch grass, Agwpyron repens, in the '' agrarian group, grasses found in cultivated land," and if Mr. Hutchinson were correct in placing it in the next group, whose members ''are not partial to any of the habitats mentioned," it would be a great saving in the cultivation of English cornfields. It is surprising that, after the unanimous opinion of experts expressed in recent writings on pasture grasses, that the author of this book should be of the opinion that timothy and cock's-foot are not among the most valuable meadow grasses, thus strengthening the prejudice against the so-called " coarse grasses" — which might be more correctly called the food-producing grasses. The figures, which are from the illustrations to Bentham's Flora, are not large enough to be of value for separating species, and it has no doubt been found by students that the admirable woodcuts in Bentham's handbook, while sufficient for the larger proportion of the flowering plants, in the case of the Graminea and some other orders, do not, owing to their size, contain the necessary detail. J. B. Carruthers. ARTICLES IN JOURNALS. Bot. Centralblatt (No. 1). — F. Brand, ' Ueber die Vegetations verhaltnisse des Wiirmsees und seine Grundalgen.' — (Nos. 2, 3). K. Schilberozky, ' Ueber Bewegungserscheinungen der Bacillaria- ceen.' — J. H. Wakker, ' Die generative Vermehrung des Zucker- rohrs.' Bot. Gazette (Dec. 16). — R. Thaxter, 'New or peculiar American Zygomycetes. I. Dispira' (1 pL). — F. V. Coville, 'Botanical explorations of Thomas Coulter ' (map). — M. L. Fernald, * Un-