Page:Journal of botany, British and foreign, Volume 9 (1871).djvu/342

 31-t PKOCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.

to Diatrype lanciformis, p. 436, and to Massaria Argus, at p. 844, it is an instance where Tulasne's advice might be of service. In this extensive Order, containing more than 30 genera and nearly 500 species, no attain- able information had need be neglected, nor anything introdnced that may tend to embarrass. Of the labonrs of other writers in this section of the fungi, copions use has been made, references to such papers as those of Mr. Currey in the Linnean Transactions are invaluable in a tribe where such distinctive characters may be found in the size and forms of the spo- ridia, and where access to authentic specimens is so difficult of attainment, very few herbaria in this country probably possessing the ' Scleroraycetes Suecise' of Fries. With all this amount of matter, and the numerous illustrations and copious index, contained in the two volumes before us, the price to subsciibers is only IDs. 6rf., an amount very inadequate to cover the time and labour necessarily bestowed upon them, nor at all commensurate with the intrinsic value of the work. No one desirous of undertaking the study of mycology need now be deterred by the cost of books, or the dithculty of mastering the great divisions of the subject, the illustrations being quite sufficient to convey a general notion to the mere tyro. It is to be hoped that Mr. Cooke's work will find a place in every botanical library, and meet with the general appreciation among scientific men that it so richly deserves.

C. E. B.

��^Iroacijings of Societies.

BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE.— EDINBURGH, 1871.

(^Concluded from page 284.)

"On the Flora of Greenland," by Dr. Robert Brown. This paper con- sisted of (1.) A statement of the collection of Greenland plants from which our knowledge of the flora is derived, such as the collections of Vahl, Rink, Holboil, Obick (catalogued by Lange), his own collections in 1861 and 1867, the collections of the surgeons of whalers, etc. (2.) The results therefrom derived. The whole number of the Pha- nerogamia and Ferns is about 324 species and marked varieties. From a study of its flora from all available sources, he could only confirm and extend Dr. Hooker's conclusions from a study of the whole Arctic phyto-geography. It had many peculiarities, namely, the identity of the Greenland and Lapponian floras, the paucity of species, etc. Enter- ing upon a consideration of Mr. Darwin's view, he considered that his doctrine of the Scandinavian flora being driven into all latitudes during the glacial period was abundantly confirmed. Discussing the subject of the transporting agents employed in disseminating Green- land plants, Dr. Brown considered that icebergs had but a small share in this work, for even allowing that they conveyed a considerable quantity of seeds in moraine, this moraine was in almost every case capsized into the sea and never reached the land. Migratory land birds had nuich more to do with it, and the winds no doubt carried the spores of Cryptogamia as well as the heavier seeds of Phanerogamia long dis- tances. Speaking of the decrease of the species according to latitude, it

�� �