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ABTICI-ES IN JOUBKALR. 221
can hardly be accepted as a trastwortby test. The red colour
at the base of the plants of Lolium perenne is often very striking,
but it is not always present, and in some eases the colour approaches
more to the shade which Mr. McAlpine attributes to Alvpecuttts
praUnm. In this the colour is even less marked, and it is only
after ei:.
be distiL. ,L
The identification of the grasses by the leaf- structure is, of
course, much more satisfactory, but this needs too minute examin-
' ' 2: a large number of plants that the grey colour can
ation to be of much practical value to any but the scientific
expert. For accurate determination one of the most important
parts of tlie leaf is the ligule, which usually bears characteristic
differences in each species ; but to determine the constituents of a
ten acre field, by examining the ligule of every plant, would be too
great an undertaking even for a scientific farmer. Mr. McAlpine's
woodcuts of the structure of our British grasses, with the exception
of those from Btecker and Lund, are rather rough, and in some
cases, especially in the sketches of the apices of blades, do not
gire much help in the work of identification. In the sketch of
lyAiuin ptrt-nne, the Hgule seems to be nearly absent, whereas it is
usually from \ to 1^ mm. in length. Mr, McAlpine must, however,
be congratulated in being the first in this country to bring forward
this difficult subject in a more or less practical form ; and though
the process of determining the different species is not so easy as it
seems from reading Mr. McAlpine's book, yet his handbook will no
doubt lead many to discover for themselves means of differentiating
the constituents of our pastures at any season of the year.
J. B. Cakbutheks.
ARTICLES IK JoUKNAnS.
Hot. CmtraUjlatt (Nos. 21-25). — E. Biinger, ' Beitrage zur
Anatomie der Laubmooskapsel.'—J. Boll, ' Ueber die Warnstorf sche
Jcufi7&?4MOT-gruppe der europaischen Torfmoose.' — (Nob. 21,22).
J, Boehm, ' Ueber Ursache der Wasserbewegung in transpirirenden
Pflanzen.' — iNo. 24). M. Kronfeld, ' Schaftblatter bei
Taraxacum officinale.'
Botanical Gazette {^ia.y).—B. D. Halbted, ' Bifunens of Solanace^
' (1 —G. Vasey, ' A new gratio ' {likachiJosjxruniiii, gen. nov.,
1 .-. ,. —W. J. Beal, , ' Grasses in tbe wrong genus.'— J. N. Kose,
•Noteu on Perilyle' (1 plate). — 'An International Congress of
• L :%.''—C. Ma M of light to epinasty in S"/rt«Mm
t, I.' — O. ixj^uiiaiu, .>Viv.