Page:Journal of botany, British and foreign, Volume 34 (1896).djvu/162

 142 BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, dc. Mr. C. F. Millspaugh, of the Field Columbian Museum, Chicago, sends us his interesting Contriliution to the Flora of Yucatan. He enumerates as the only known collectors in that region J. J. Linden in 1825, E. P. Johnson in 1848, Dr. G. F. Gaumier in 1885-6, and by himself in January, 1895. Dr. Gaumier collected 224 species, and we learn from Mr. Millspaugh that since the publication of his Contribution, he has sent in another collection of about 600 species. Mr. Hemsley is quoted as saying that " little is known of the details of the botany of Yucatan," and this is still the case ; but it is un- fortunate that that writer, in the Botany of the Biologia Centrali- Americana, should have ignored the plants (some 600 species) collected by Dr. A. Schott in Yucatan in 1865, and acquired for the British Museum in 1876. We called attention to these specimens in our notice of the first part of Mr. Hemsley's book (Journ. Bot. 1880, 90), and it is matter for regret that this and other collections then mentioned, equally easy of access, should have been ignored in the Biologia. Dr. Schott' s plants are scattered through the Herbarium, and it would not be easy to give a complete list of them ; they include several novelties, some of which have been described, and there is a MS. containing valuable notes on the names and folklore of the species. Mr. Millspaugh describes and figures one new species, Euphorbia Armourii, appropriately named in compliment to Mr. Allison V. Armour, of Chicago, at whose expense the 1891 expedition was undertaken. The Director of Kew Gardens has added to his responsibilities the editing of the Icones Plantarum, for which Prof. Daniel Oliver has been responsible since 1891. Prof. Oliver's vast knowledge of systematic botany rendered him peculiarly suitable for a post of this kind ; and botanists will regret that the Icones is no longer to have the great benefit of his supervision, more especially as this has been for some time past the only medium through which his work has been presented to the botanical world. Nineteen out of the twenty- five species figured in this part are, however, described by him, so it may be hoped that his co-operation has been secured; the other, descriptions are by Dr. Stapf and Mr. Rolfe, the editor being so far unrepresented. Dr. Stapf describes two new genera of Grasses — Woodrowia (Agrostidese) and Halopyrum (Festucese) : the former is a new plant from Poona ; the latter is based on Uniola mucvonata L., the systematic position of which has always been doubtful. The Quarterly Review for March has a curious article entitled '♦ Plant Names," under which heading are lumped together various works ranging in date from 1870 to 1895, including Dr. Prior's Popular Names of British Plants, Messrs. Britten & Holland's Dictionary of English Plant Names, and — the Index Kewensis ! With regard to the last, the misleading announcements put forward both inside and outside the book, on which we have commented more than once, have been so entirely successful, that while we are told that "we have largely to thank the Kew staff" for the work —