352 BOTANICAL NEWS.
Hemp (Sanseviera gvineensis), the latter valuable for its fibre ; and is training up a number of apprentices with a view of their ultimately becoming useful in the island, where the arts of horticulture and arbo- riculture have been for many years much neglected.
The twentieth meeting of the American Association for the Advance- ment of Science was held in Indianopolis, Indiana, from the 10th to the 21st of August, under the presidency of Professor Asa Gray. The number of members in attendance is stated to have been about 200, which is about the same as in three previous years. An interesting ex- cursion was made to the coalfields of Indiana, which were visited by 400 excursionists. They travelled in eight coaches, and rested for the night at Terre Haute, a town of 20,000 inhabitants, where lectures were delivered by Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins on winged reptiles, and by Dr. Gray on the fertilization of flowers by insects. The botanical papers read in the Section were — " On the Organic Identity of the Albumen and Endopleura of Seeds," by T. C. Hilyard ; " The Monocotyledon the Universal Type of Seeds," by T. C. Meehan ; " On the Apparently One- ranked Phyllotaxis of Baptisia perfoUata." and " On the Phyllotaxis of Cucarhltacece^^ by H. W. Ravenel ; and "On the Abies Doufflasii t\nd a New Species or peculiar variety of A. balsamifera from the Rocky Mountains," by G. C. Swallow.
A very elaborate handbook of botanical geography will shortly be pub- lished under the title of ' Vegetation der Erde nach klimatischer Ordnnng,' by Professor Grisebach, of Gottingen, well known by his monograph of Gentinnacerp, afterwards adapted for De CandoUe's ' Prodromus,' and by his ' Flora of the British West Indian Islands.' It will occupy two octavo volumes of six hundred pages each, and no doubt will be a most valuable accession to the literature of the subject.
The second volume of the 'Flora of Tropical Africa,' containing the Orders from Li'ijmuinoHce to Ficoidea, has appeared. As in the previous volume, Prof. Oliver has secured the assistance of several botanists ; but he has taken the great proportion of the work on his own shoulders. He is author of the following Natural Orders : — Legumbiosts (excepting the Pup'dionacecp, which have been mono^ra]ihed by Mr. J. G. Baker), llo- saceap., Snxifrnr/ere, Droseracere^ HamamellderE, Haloragere, UluzopKorefB, Oywgrariere, CacUtceee, and Ficoidea ; CrassiducefP are the work of Mr. James Britten ; Cowbretacea and Myrtarece, of Prof. Lawson ; Mdasto- wacere^ Cncurbdacefe, and Begoniace^, of Dr. Hooker ; Lylhracca, of Mr. W. P. Hiern , Samydacere, Loasacece, Tiirneraceee, and I'assijiorefe, of Dr. Masters. The proportion of new species is very large ; and a new genus of PapiUonacea {Platysepalum, Welw. mss.), allied to Millettia, is de- scribed.
For the encouragement of Ihe Saturday half-holiday in London in con- nection with the field excursions for natural history purposes which have sprung out of it, prizes to the amount of thirty guineas are offered by the Duchess of Sutherland, the Countess of Ducie, and the Marquis of West- minster, for the competition of members of botanical, microscopical, and geological clubs, working-men's clubs, and the unprofessional natiu'alists of London generally. The subjects selected by the prize-givers require from the competitors an acquaintance with the mosses, pond-niicrozoa, and fossils of the London district, obtained by Saturday afternoon excur- sions to be made during the next twelve months. The prizes are offered through the Early Closing Association.
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