Page:Journal of botany, British and foreign, Volume 34 (1896).djvu/63

 BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, ETC. 47 Plants of the year 1894." ** These lists are indispensable to the maintenance of a correct nomenclature, especially in the smaller botanical establishments in correspondence with Kew"; if this is so, it is to be regretted that this was not issued earlier in the year, as such a list could easily have been completed in the first week of 1895, and published at once. The enumeration includes such plants as " Cypripedium Mme. Octave Opoix" and *'Odonto- glossum Imperatrice de Russie," as well as others '' of no horti- cultural interest; " and the information it gives is thus fully entitled to be classed as " miscellaneous." The number of the Bulletin purporting to be for November made its appearance in the latter half of December, but — as if to compensate for this lateness — the first '* Appendix " for 1896 has already been published. Mr. R. Schlechter, whose papers on Asclepiadacece have lately been appearing in this Journal, left England early in December for a prolonged visit to South Africa. Arriving at Cape Town in January, he will proceed to the Could Bokkeveld. In June or July, according to the rainy season, he will go to the southern parts of Nama-land, then over the Orange River to Liideritzland. In September he will return south, to visit the less explored western regions, especially the Hantam Mountains. In 1897, starting from Natal through Zululand and Swaziland to the Limpopo Valley, Mr. Schlechter, after crossing the Limpopo River, will explore Matabeleland and the other regions between the Limpopo and Zambesi Rivers. He hopes to return to Europe about May, 1898. Mr. G. C. Druce has been appointed Curator of the Fielding Herbarium at Oxford. We are glad to learn that the Monocotyledons of the Flo7'a Capensis (to occupy the sixth volume, volumes iv. and v. being left for the remaining Dicotyledons) have been sent to press ; and it is to be hoped that, in the interests of the Colonies, Mr. Chamberlain will do something to accelerate the pace of the Flora of Tropical Africa, for the continuation of which Lord Salisbury expressed anxiety nearly five years since. We note that neither of these Floras occurs in the list of "Works in preparation at the Royal Gardens, Kew," which appears in the latest issue of the Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, nor is there any indication that the much- needed Guide to the Gardens is in progress. Oddly enough, however, Mr. Jackson's Index, completed some months back, still finds a place in the list. Is it not time that the numbering (in roman numerals) of the articles of the Bulletin was discontinued? In some cases — e.g. "CCCCLXXXVIII. Sumach" — the number is considerably longer than the title to the article, and can serve no useful purpose. Mr. F. N. Williams has issued a *' Provisional and Tentative List of the Orders and Families of British Flowering Plants," which is based on the works of Willkomm and Lange, Engler and Prantl, Parlatore, Caruel, and others, with some additions by Mr. Williams himself. The list is calculated to startle English botanists,
 * • who," Mr, Williams tells us, " cling with tenacious conservatism