Page:Journal of botany, British and foreign, Volume 34 (1896).djvu/472

 440 BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, ETC. British botanists will be interested in the rearrangements of Caryophyllacem and Cyperacece (excluding Carex) which Messrs. F. N. Williams and C. B. Clarke respectively contribute to our present issue. It is unnecessary to say that we demur to certain particulars of the proposed revisions ; but the views of experts on the two orders cannot fail to be of interest. We must enter a protest against Mr. Williams's spelling the genus which Ehrhart, its founder, called Honkenya. Mr. Williams informs us that he has *' taken a good deal of time and trouble in hunting up the proper spelling of Honckeny's name," which would seem to imply that biographical research will have to be added to the already numerous qualifica- tions necessary for the ascertaining of correct nomenclature. Mr. Williams's action appears to us not in accordance with the Decan- dollean "Laws," and is a reopening of the CincJio7ia v. Chinchona question, which we thought had been decided by the general consent of botanists. Miss WooLWARD is to be congratulated on the completion of her great work on The Genus Masdevallia ; we hope to say more about it on a future occasion. The last part ("Anno VI, fasc. 2o, 1896" — not otherwise dated) of the Annuario del li. Istituto hotanico di Roma is mainly occupied by contributions to our knowledge of the botany of Somali-land. Dr. Lindau describes the AcanthacecB (with two new genera, Leuco- harleria and Ihispolia) ; Drs. Hennings and Bresadola the Fungi ; Dr. Gilg the Capparidacem and Thymeleacece ; and Signor Chiovenda the Grasses — this last paper being illustrated by thirteen plates : these might, we think, well have been of the size of the pages of the text, as in their folded form they are inconvenient for reference. It is to be regretted that no date of publication is given on the part ; so many botanists are now simultaneously publishing descriptions of new African plants that every precaution should be taken to avoid the possibility of future confusion with regard to priority. Thomas Beesley was born on March 28th, 1818, at Banbury. After his apprenticeship he commenced business in 1844 as a chemist and druggist at Chipping Norton. On the retirement of his uncle, Mr. Henry Beesley, he succeeded to his business at Banbury, in which he remained until his retirement in 1887. Here he amassed a considerable collection illustrating the geology of the district, as well as an extensive library, and a herbarium of British plants, which is now in the possession of Mr. G. C. Druce, who received much help from Mr. Beesley in the compilation of the Flora of Oxfordshire. Beesley contributed a list of plants to the History of Banbury, prepared by his uncle, Alfred Beesley, in 1841. This list, comprising nearly 500 species, besides a large number of Cryptogams, was largely quoted by Mr. H. C. Watson in his Topographical Botany ; in fact, it was the chief source of the records from Oxfordshire in that work. Mr. Beesley died at Banbury on the 15th of May. These particulars are taken from the sketch of his life contributed by Mr. G. C. Druce to the Pharmaceutical Journal for Sept. 5th.