ALBERT

Description: As a student, I used to enjoy ’Karsten and Schenck’ propped up on the breakfast-table. With equal familiarity I treated ’Kerner’, 'Schimper', and other great picture-books of botany. The time came to translate the dreams of youth into vocation. ”Protista”, said the professor of zoology, ”are the pivot of biology”. I substituted my breakfast-reading with the Archiv für Protistenkunde, and hesitated at the coming call of biophysics. Ever since I have been rent, like the morning toast, by two forces which would make of me a student of the microcosm of protoplasm and a disciple of its greatness. They are the forces splitting biology into macromolecules and macro-organisms, and I do not know how this rift may be spanned. I cannot conceive what energy level, chemical bond, or carbon-grouping can decide whether it is insect-pollination or curiosity that will be inherited. But the pendulum has swung. The young botanist no longer looks at these books? he models molecules and chromosomes, and works very largely in vitro. Nevertheless, if biology is not to stand still, the pendulum will return and its amplitude will be the strength of those who have put their trust in the macrocosm. These were the thoughts which I vaguely entertained, when I found myself in the forests of Malaya and I measured my insignificance against the quiet majesty of the trees. All botanists should be humble. From trampling weeds and cutting lawns they should go where they are lost in the immense structure of the forest. It is built in surpassing beauty without any of the necessities of human endeavour; no muscle or machine, no sense-organ or instrument, no thought or blueprint has hoisted it up. It has grown by plant-nature to a stature and complexity exceeding any presentiment that can be gathered from books, and it is one of the most baffling problems of biology.

Description: Besides the importance of correct identification the revision of a large genus should add considerably to knowledge of phytogeography and of infrageneric diversification. In all respects Ficus has much to contribute. It is a genus which the collector meets in abundance in all parts of tropical Asia and Australasia, whether in primary or secondary environments, and which he soon learns to recognise. It can be exploited, therefore, provided the species can be identified. The purpose of this note is to request intensified collection, because I believe it is possible to name satisfactorily sterile material. Only too often, valuable sterile material is left uncollected, as I know from my own experience, for sooner or later it can be recognised as a positive record from some locality. Some figs, too, fruit rarely and are in consequence ill-represented, though really frequent.

Description: Recent collections from the Solomon Islands show that Aphelaria amboinensis (Lev.) Corner is an auriculariaceous fungus of coriaceous consistency, devoid of hymenium, but with the basidia immersed longitudinally in the superficial tissue. Re-named Paraphelaria ambonensis (Lév.) nov. gen., comb, nov., it is a parallel both to Aphelaria and to Tremellodendron.

Description: A pantropical genus of terrestrial and hemi-epiphytic trees and shrubs or climbers with a unique inflorescence (syconium, fig). This forms the basis of a unique and complex pollination system requiring flowering phenologies that make mature inflorescences highly important as food source for forest animals. Large-scale economic value is confined to production of indoor and outdoor ornamental trees. The genus, the largest of the 37 genera of the family, comprises about 735 species worldwide and 367 currently recognised in the Malesian region. The introductory part consists of chapters on distribution, ecology, classification, morphology, pollen morphology (by J.M. Langeveld & R.W.J.M. van der Ham), microscopic characters of the leaf, wood anatomy (by P. Baas), pollination, dispersal, uses, and spot characters. General and regional keys to the species are given. For each species references, synonymy, a description with distribution, habitat, and often also notes on characters, relationships, etc. are presented. The genus is subdivided into six subgenera (for page-specification see next page). Within the sections or subsections the species are arranged in numerical order. A list of dubious and excluded names is added. The treatment is illustrated with 133 illustrations (line drawings and photographs), and 18 maps.

Description: A pantropical family with 37 genera of which 14 indigenous and in total 1070–1100 species of which 60 non-Ficus species in the Malesian region. Two genera and five non-Ficus species have been introduced. The introductory part comprises chapters on distribution, morphology, pollen morphology (by R.P.W. Kromhout & R.W.J.M. van der Ham), wood anatomy (by P. Baas), chemotaxonomy (by R. Hegnauer), cytotaxonomy, ecology, reproductive biology, classification, and uses. Keys to the tribes, genera, and species are given. The treatments of genera and species comprise references, synonymy, description, indications about distribution and ecology, and notes on relationships, etc. The genera and species are alphabetically arranged under six tribes. The treatment is illustrated with 25 line drawings and 4 distribution maps.

Description: Although our knowledge of reproductive parts of bamboos is still very defective, an adequately collected vegetative specimen is valuable and sufficient for identification. Like in tree ferns (see p. 567) and in rattans, a well-collected specimen does not need to be excessively bulky, provided the essential parts are taken. We hope that field workers will overcome the hesitation they might feel to attack this difficult but very important plant group.

Description: The tegmic pachychalaza is considered along with the problem of abortive seeds.

Description: A rather extensive series of collections of the genus Amanita from Malaya and Singapore, provided the basis of 22 species described as new. The obscure species Amanita eriophora (Berk.) Gilb., A. fritillaria (Berk.) Sacc., A. virginea Mass., Armillaria squamosa Mass., and Collybia elata Mass. are redescribed and the last two transferred to Amanita. Amanita similis Boed. is reduced to the rank of a subspecies of A. hemibapha (Berk. & Br.) Sacc. and A. hemibapha sensu Boed. described as A. hemibapha subsp. javanica. Amanita rubrovolvata Imai is recorded for the first time from outside Japan.