Page:Journal of botany, British and foreign, Volume 34 (1896).djvu/521

 487 BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, dc. We announce with great regret the death of Dr. Trimen, for many years Editor of this Journal, which took place at Peradeniya on Oct. 16th. A portrait and memoir of the deceased botanist will appear in our next issue. We have also to record the death of Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, which took place at Melbourne on the 9th of October. A fuller notice will follow in due course. The Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, headed "May and June" and issued in October, consists mainly of miscellaneous extracts from previously published works. The preface to part i. of the continuation of the Flora Capensis, the introduction to the Kew Hand-list of Conifer cb, citations from Nature and the Demerara Argosy J a report of Sir Alfred Moloney on British Honduras, and various selections from official correspondence make up a number devoid of original matter and of no botanical interest. Appendix ii. containing a list of the new garden plants of 1895, appeared in September. It is modestly claimed for these lists that they are "indispensable to the maintenance of a correct nomenclature," and, if this be so, it seems desirable that they should be issued earlier in the year. Captain Bartle Grant, having brought together from various works descriptions of Burmese Orchids (including those of the Andaman Islands), has printed them in a volume entitled The Orchids of Burma (London, Quaritch ; 10s. 6d. net). Those who, like the author, feel the need of a book of reference dealing specially with Burmese orchids will find this a very useful volume, more especially as it includes the information given by Mr. Parish in Theobald's edition of Mason's Burma. Captain Bartle Grant has not, so far as we have seen, himself added any new species to the list, but the work of compilation seems to have been done with care and accuracy. We regret to record the death of Professor Thomas King, which took place on September 14th at Fochabers, where he had gone to attend the Conference of the Cryptogamic Society of Scotland, of which he was Hon. Treasurer. Mr. King was born on April 14th, 1834, at Yardfoot, Lochwinnoch, Eenfrewshire. When about twenty years of age he removed to Glasgow, where for several years he attended the Training College of the Free Church of Scotland, with the view of qualifying himself for educational work. He taught English in schools at Glasgow, Paisley, &c., from 1858 till 1864, when his health broke down, and he afterwards obtained an edu- cational appointment at Valparaiso, Chile, where he remained for nine years. While resident in that country he formed extensive collections of plants, &c., and was successful in discovering several species new to science. He returned to Glasgow in 1873. Mr. King held the certificate of the Department of Science and Art as a teacher of Botany, and was lecturer on Botany in the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College, Veterinary College, and various other educational institutions. In 1889 he was appointed Professor