ALBERT

Description: The genus Praravinia was created by KORTHALS (in TEMMINCK, Verhand. Nat. Gesch. Ned. Overz. Bezitt., Bot., p. 189, tab. 41, 1839-1842) for a plant which he had collected in the south-eastern part of Borneo. He described it as similar in habit and doubtless nearly related to Urophyllum WALL. His diagnosis of the genus, however, does not substantiate this point of view, for it contains two statements which seem to exclude the possibility of a near affinity: the aestivation of the corolla lobes is described as imbricate, whereas in Urophyllum and its allies it is always valvate, and the number of corolla lobes is said to be half as large as that of the stamens, a condition unknown not only in Urophyllum but in the whole family. As in the description of the species the aestivation is correctly set down as valvate, the first statement need not trouble us: the word “imbricate” in the generic diagnosis is obviously a slip of the pen. The other statement, however, is repeated in the description of the species, but it strikes one as anomalous that immediately afterwards the 8—12 stamens are said to alternate with the corolla lobes, as this of course would be impossible when the latter were but half as numerous as the first. The discrepancy between the number of the corolla lobes and of the stamens led MIQUEL in his “Flora Indiae Batavae II, p. 225 (1857)” to consider Praravinia as a quite singular genus, rather out of place in the family Rubiaceae: it reminded him, he says, of the Samydeae (Flacourtiaceae). When he wrote this, he knew the genus merely from the description given by KORTHALS, but afterwards he found an opportunity to study the latter’s material. In his “De quibusdam Rubiaceis, Apocyneis et Asclepiadeis” (Ann. Mus. Bot. Lugd.-Bat. IV, p. 136, 1869) he proposes, as a result of this investigation, to exclude the genus from the Rubiaceae, and to raise it to family rank. The new family, for which he introduces the name Metrocladeaceae, should be regarded, however, as nearly related to the Rubiaceae. The description of the genus given by MIQUEL is much more detailed than the original one, but it unfortunately repeats its principal errors: the corolla is described as 4- to 6-merous, and its aestivation as imbricate. The male flower dissected by him is preserved in the Utrecht Herbarium; it is a fairly young bud, opened by a longitudinal slit. The corolla lobes had apparently been separated by a slight pressure, but I at once got the impression that it had been insufficient to effect a complete separation, and that the lobes were still cohering in pairs. I have boiled the flower therefore once more, and by exercising in my turn a slight pressure I succeeded in setting all the lobes free. Since then I have seen mature flowers of this and other species in which the isomery of corolla and androecium was unmistakable. MIQUEL’s speculations on the taxonomic position of the genus were based therefore on a false supposition, and need no further consideration; the analysis carried out below will show that KORTHALS was quite right when he placed Praravinia in the neighbourhood of Urophyllum.

Description: Of the family Oenotheraceae the genus Jussieua is the only one occurring in Suriname. The peculiar Oocarpon torulosum (Arn.) Urb., which has been recorded from Amazonian Peru, Brazil, British and French Guiana, Cuba and Santo Domingo, has up till now not been collected in the colony, but on account of its presence in the neighbouring countries it is there also to be expected. As for the name of the only Suriname genus, it was spelled by LINNAEUS in Genera Plantarum, ed. I (1737), p. 126, Jussieua but afterwards in his Flora Zeylanica (1747), p. 75, changed in Jussiaea.

Description: The name Pleiocarpidia was coined by K. SCHUMANN (ENGLER und PRANTL, Natürliche Pflanzenfamilien, Nachträge I, p. 314, 1897) for a genus described in 1873 by HOOKER f. (BENTHAM et HOOKER, Genera Plantarum II (1), p. 71) as Aulacodiscus: HOOKER’S genus had to be rebaptized, because the name Aulacodiscus had been used already in 1844 by EHRENBERG for a genus belonging to the Diatomeae. A proposal made by O. KUNTZE(POST et KUNTZE, Lexicon, 1904) to change the spelling of the name introduced by SCHUMANN in Pliocarpidia can not be accepted, as there is no rule prescribing the transcription of the Greek diphthong in the manner advocated by the proposer. The plant on which HOOKER’S genus was founded, a small tree not uncommon in the Malay Peninsula, had been described already several years before by WIGHT (Calc. Journ. Nat. Hist. VII, p. 144, 1847) under the name Axanthes enneandra. The specific epithet points to the presence of nine stamens in the flower, but this is exceptional: in the flowers investigated by me the ordinary number proved to be seven. The genus Axanthes Bl., to which the species had been referred by WIGHT, was reduced shortly afterwards by BENTHAM and HOOKER f. (Niger Flora,p. 396,1849) and independently by KORTHALS (Ned. Kruidk. Arch. II, 2, p. 194,1851) to Urophyllum Wall. Later HOOKER made an exception for Axanthes enneandra Wight. The flowers of this plant were described by him as 8- to 16-merous, and on account of this character and of the presence of a “peltate stigma” he referred it to a new genus. Afterwards a second species from the same region was described by KING and GAMBLE under the name Aulacodiscus Maingayi, but this proved identical with the first (cf. RIDLEY, Flora of the Malay Peninsula II, p. 64, 1923). A really new species, however, was found in Mindanao: it was described by Merrill as Pleiocarpidia lanaensis.

Description: Among the Acanthaceae grown in the glasshouses of the University Botanic Garden, Utrecht, a plant labelled Aphelandra velutina drew my attention, first, because it obviously belonged to an entirely different genus, and secondly, because a description under this name could nowhere be found. The coincidence of these two grounds for bewilderment might be explained by assuming that Aphelandra was merely a perversion, probably caused by the inadvertency of a transcriber, of the true generic name. This sounded plausible enough, but the name itself could not be found, for all attempts to refer the plant to one of the existing genera failed. It looked as if the plant might have been described somewhere, but for the time being there was no indication at all as to the whereabouts of this description. A clue to the origin of the name was obtained some time afterwards when I found in the Utrecht herbarium a specimen belonging to the same species which was labelled Eranthemum velutinum: the specific epithet, therefore, was the same, but the generic name was different and, as I will show presently, nearer to the mark. The specimen, which dated from 1922, had been collected by the roadside in the Buitenzorg suburb Kotta Paris, and had apparently been named by an official of the Buitenzorg Botanic Gardens. It is, however, certainly no native Javanese plant, for the flora of Java, and particularly that of Buitenzorg, is well known, and a rather conspicuous plant like this one could not have escaped the attention: it was obviously a runaway from one of the neighbouring gardens.

Description: JEAN BAPTISTE CHRISTOPHE FUSÉE AUBLET est né à Salon (Provence) le 4 nov. 1720 et mort à Paris le 6 mai 1778. Dès son enfance il se passionna pour l’étude des plantes. Il alla étudier la botanique à Montpellier. De Montpellier il se rendit à Lyon, où il fit la connaissance de CHRISTOPHE DE JUSSIEU et il s’engagea dans le service des hôpitaux de l’armée commandée par l’infant DON PHILIPPE. Dégoûté bientôt de la vie des camps, il prit son congé, et vint à Paris. Là il se logea dans la maison du chimiste VANEL, suivait les cours de chimie de ROUELLE, visitait les environs de Paris en naturaliste et consultait BERNARD DE JUSSIEU comme une bibliothèque, pour nous servir de son expression. Ensuite il s’engagea au service de l’état et fut chargé d’établir à l’île-de-France (Mauritius) une pharmacie centrale et un jardin de botanique. Il s’embarqua en décembre 1752 et arriva vers la fin du mois d’août suivant. Il y fit un séjour de neuf ans, pendant lequel il envoya maintes fois des collections de plantes, de minéraux et d’animaux à la patrie. A peine de retour en France, il reçut l’ordre de s’embarquer à Bordeaux pour la Guyane. Il mit à la voile le 20 mai 1762, et mouilla l’ancre le 23 juillet à l’île de Cayenne. Le 24 sept. 1764 AUBLET prit un moment la direction de l’établissement colonial du môle Saint-Nicolas à Saint Domingue; et au commencement de l’année suivante il revint en France. C’est à Paris qu’il profita des conseils de BERNARD DE JUSSIEU pour mettre en ordre ses collections de plantes et pour rédiger l’important ouvrage, qui a pour titre: Histoire des plantes de la Guiane françoise, Londres et Paris, 1775, 4 vol. in 4°, dont deux de planches. Ces notices biographiques ont été empruntées à la Nouvelle Biographie Universelle, vol. III, Paris, 1852 et à l’introduction précédant son livre et écrite par AUBLET lui-même.

Description: Whilst studying the material of the genus Securidaca for the “Flora of Suriname”, I found it in most cases extremely difficult or even impossible to identify the species. The original descriptions are, as a rule, very short, and they have been based for a good deal on incomplete material: mature fruits, for instance, are often missing. Hence it is not surprising that on quite a number of species the opinions of taxonomists disagree. Accordingly on the one hand we may find in the various collections the most different species lumped together under the same name, while on the other hand one and the same species may appear under several names. A study of the type specimens therefore, was obviously very desirable. I am indebted to the “VAN EEDEN FONDS” for enabling me to visit the Herbarium in Paris, where I could clear up some misunderstandings with regard to the Suriname species. This study includes all the Suriname specimens preserved in the Herbaria of Utrecht, Leiden, Kew, Brussels, Geneva and Berlin, together with the material collected outside Suriname and available in the Utrecht and Paris collections, and the British Guiana plants of the Kew Herbarium. To get an impression of the genus as a whole, several species not occurring in Suriname have been studied, but a thorough investigation was made of the Suriname ones only. The results of this investigation will be given below.

Description: In einem jüngst erschienenen Aufsatz schreibt Du Rietz (1941 S. 6): ”Pylaiella rupincola (Aresch.) Kylin ist mit Conferva litoralis L. identisch. Kein Grund liegt vor anzunehman‘, dass Linné die auf Ascophyllum an der schwedischen Westküste wachsende Pylaiella litoralis sensu Kylin gekannt und in seine Conferva litoralis miteinbezogen hat. Der Name Pylaiella litoralis (L.) Kjellm. muss deshalb für P. rupincola (Aresch.) Kylin beibehalten werden. Für P. litoralis sensu Kylin schlägt Verf. den neuen Namen Pylaiella Kylinii vor.“ Bei meinen Untersuchungen über Pylaiella litoralis (1933 und 1937) war ich zu der Auffassung gekommen, dass diese Art in sich zwei verschiedene Arten enthielt. Für die eine behielt ich den Namen P. litoralis (L.) Kjellm., die andere nannte ich P. rupincola (Aresch.) Kylin 1937 S. 5, und dies zwar aus historischen Gründen. In der Literatur hatte man nämlich die im allgemeinen auf den gröberen Fucaceen epiphytisch wachsende Pylaiella als die Hauptform betrachtet, die im allgemeinen auf Felsen wachsende rupincola dagegen als eine Nebenform. Und um nun die Nomenklatur, in der Weise wie sie sich historisch entwickelt hatte, so wenig als irgend möglich zu verändern, bezeichnete ich die Hauptform als P. litoralis (L.) Kjellm., die Nebenform dagegen als B. rupincola (Aresch.). Kylin. Du Rietz behauptet jetzt, dass ich die Nomenklaturgesetzte übertreten habe. Ehe ich indessen diese Frage des näheren auseinandersetze, werde ich P. litoralis und P. rupincola kurz besprechen.

Description: Anne Antoinette van Bosse, fille de M. Jacob van Bosse et de Mme Jaqueline Jeanne née Reynvaan, naquit à Amsterdam le 27 mars 1852. Très jeune encore elle perdit sa mère; sa soeur, son ainée de 10 ans, prit sa place aussi bien qu’elle put. Outre cette soeur elle avait trois frères. Selon l’usage de cette époque les familles aisées n’envoyaient pas leurs filles à l’école, ainsi Anna van Bosse reçut à la maison son instruction par une institutrice de nationalité suisse. La botanique et la zoologie furent d’emblée ses branches préférées; les fréquentes visites au jardin zoologique ”Artis“ y contribuèrent pour une grande part. l’Observation des animaux exotiques lui procurait un grand plaisir et jusqu’à présent elle porte un grand intêret à ”Artis“.

Description: Summarizing, it appears that Eucommia has the greatest number of characters in common with the Urticales. This is shown by the similarity of the inflorescences as well as by the unisexual flowers and the dioecy. In both groups the pistil consists of 2 connate carpels and the ovary is usually 1-celled by abortion, while the stigmata are generally papillate. Further general points of relation with the Urticales are the originally spiral phyllotaxis, which becomes later on pseudo-distichous, simple vessel perforations, libriform with bordered pits, unicellular hairs and the occurrence of calciumcarbonate and silica as well as of latex elements. Yet, it seems difficult to indicate any particular family in the Urticales to which Eucommia should be most related. While the fruit recalls Ulmus and the latex elements Urtica and Cannabis, the spirally thickened vessel walls remind us of some Morus species. In addition, Eucommia is isolated by the facts that in the Urticales the perianth is never entirely wanting, that there is only one ovule in the cell of the ovary, that stipules are very frequent, that calciumoxalate is characteristic (it is wanting in Eucommia) and that the superficial suberization is subepidermal in the Urticales and epidermal in Eucommia. After the Urticales the Euphorbiaceae-Hippomaneae seem to be the nearest of kin, on account of a number of anatomical and morphological characters. However, the Euphorbiaceae usually possess a 3-celled ovary, a 2-celled one occasionally occurs in the Hippomaneae. Next follow the Hamamelidaceae which have, however, two fertile carpels but of which Distylium and Altingia show a reduction in the perianth and the latter moreover a similar leaf shape.

Description: The island of Enggano is the most southern of a series of islands situated parallel to the Western coast of Sumatra. In 1936 the island was visited by Dr. W. J. LüTJEHARMS, who stayed there from the end of May to the beginning of July collecting materials for the Herbaria at Buitenzorg and Leiden. During this excursion he also collected some zoocecidia, which were sent to me for classification by the Director of the Rijksherbarium, Leiden. The collection consists of 16 galls on various plants; many of them were already known as occurring in other parts of the Malay Archipelago; others are new, these are marked with an asterisk. A collection of 16 galls is actually to small to give insight into the wealth of galls of this tropical island; so far, however, nothing was known about the galls of the island, and since it is unlikely that the place will before long again be examined as to its galls, I deemed it worthwile to describe this small collection.

Description: Hallier ²) subdivided the Convolvulaceae into two groups, viz. the Psiloconiae, with smooth pollen grains, and the Echinoconiae with spinose ones. The genera of the Psiloconiae occurring in Malaysia have been dealt with in parts I and II of the present paper, with exception of the genus Erycibe, which shall be treated in a special monograph. The group of Echinoconiae contains two tribes, viz. 1. Ipomoeeae and 2. Argyreieae, both represented in Malaysia. The genus Ipomoea belongs to the Ipomoeeae.

Description: Anthericum Rouwenortii De Gorter, a species not occurring in the Index Kewensis, was described by De Gorter in his Catalogus Plantarum Horti Ulenpassiani, 1783, p. 51 and 52 as follows: p. 51 : AUTHERICUM. 2. Rouwenortii. foliis planis carinatis, scapo ramoso, corollis patentibus. Tab. I. Habitat in Zeylona? Planta e seminibus e Zeylona, si bene meminit III. Baro De ROUWENOORT missis, ante multos annos enata colitur adhuc in Caldario Horti Uilenpassiani, ubi quotannis floret. Descriptio. Badix crassa, tuberosa, subtranslucida. Folia radicalia, ensiformia, carinata, glabra, sesquipedalia, extremitate subulata. p. 52: Scapus ramosus, fere tripedalis, ramis alternis, inferioribus brevioribus, superioribus longioribus. Bracteis lanceolato-subulatis bifidis. Fedunculis simplicibus. Flores magnitudine Antherici ramosi, albi, apicibus petalorum viridibus. Filamenta alba, laevia. Antherae flavae. staminibus longior. The Catalogus Plantarum Horti Ulenpassiani is a catalogue of plants cultivated in the gardens and greenhouses of Ulenpas, the estate of H.A.W. Baron van Rouwenoort and situated near Hummelo in the Netherlands’ province of Gelderland. It contains lists of plant-names and the only species of which a description and a plate are given is the above mentioned Anthericum Rouwenortii.

Description: Platanthera angustata (Bl.) Lndl., Gen. et sp. Orch. (1835), 290; etc. Sumatra: Atjeh, Gajolanden, Poetjoek Angasan, bivouac 1 to 2, 2700 m, blang ground, marshy heath, common (C. G. G. J. van Steenis n. 8350, 28 Jan. 1937). G. Leuser, bivouac 4—5, watershed, 2700—2800 m (C. G. G. J. van Steenis n. 8502, 31 Jan. 1937). Same locality, central top, Aloer near bivouac 6, 3250—3300 m, mountain meadow (C. G. G. J. van Steenis n. 8683, 3 Febr. 1937). G. Goh Lemboeh, from bivouac Aer Poetih waterfall to bivouac Halfweg, 1000 m (C. G. G. J. van Steenis n. 8902, 8 Febr. 1937).

Description: Whilst visiting the Leeward Group, little time could be spared to the collecting of mammals; from Odocoileus and Sylvilagus however, a rather representative series could be obtained. Regarding this, I must offer my grateful thanks and appreciation to the people who so ably and kindly assisted in securing the specimens. I am especially obliged to Mr. van der Linde Schotborgh for presenting me with a living Curaçoan deer and to Mr. de Wit for organizing our three shooting-parties, ending with the aquisition of the type of Odocoileus gymnotis curassavicus. Señorita Fanny Maneyro made me a present of a two days old fawn, on the occasion of a short visit to her uncles estate on the Peninsula de Araya. Little “Chacopato” was bottle-fed in my room in Porlamar, with the devoted assistance of Maximiliana, the hotel-owners step-daughter. This apartment he soon shared with an adult deer from Margarita, which however died a few months later. During this time the hotel-owner, Clémente Sibú, who was very fond of animals, overlooked many annoying things, which another would never have let pass. After my departure to Curaçao, “Chacopato” stayed in “Hotel Central”, where he was later joined by his two prospective wives “Guanta” and “Carúpana”, until our departure for the Netherlands. After being kindly entertained on board of the „Van Rensselaer”, they started family-life in the grounds of my parents country-house near The Hague.

Description: The region which forms the field of these studies lies between Trinidad and the Goajira-peninsula, off the northcoast of South America, comprising of seventeen islands or island-groups with a total area of about 2000 square kilometers. It is a part of the Venezuelan Republic, excepting Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire, which is Netherlands territory. The total number of inhabitants can be estimated at 164000, chiefly confined to Margarita (70000), Curaçao (61000), Aruba (24000), Bonaire (5500) and Coche (3000). This region was visited in 1936 and 1937 with the main object of studying the land and freshwaterfauna, excluding birds and the greater part of the insects. For comparison some parts of the adjacent continent were also visited.

Description: An upper molar of Anancus arvernensis (Croiz. & Job.), fished out of the Eastern Scheldt, near Ierseke, and belonging to the so-called black fossils, shows more affinity with the specimens from the English Crags than with those from Thüringen. Another upper molar of the species has been dredged out of the Lower-Rhine. A lower molar of Archidiskodon planifrons (Falc. & Caut.) from the same locality as the first-named tooth, and displaying the same kind of fossilization has most probably been washed out of the same deposit. Also in other parts of Europe the two animals lived together in the Upper-Pliocene, prae-Günzian period. Marine Amstelian deposits being absent in the greater part of Zealand, it is highly probable that a fauna of landmammals to which also both Proboscidea, belong, thus resembling other Lower-Villafranchian faunas like those of Italy, Auvergne and the English Red Crag, also lived in Zealand when this region emerged above the sea.

Description: Diese Arbeit enthält die Beschreibung einiger neuer Arten aus den Asphaltgesteinen der Insel Buton, sowie Bemerkungen über schon bekannte Species. Wie überall im ostindischen Archipel ist auch hier K. Martin vorangegangen, indem er 1933 und 1935 insgesamt 35 neue Arten beschrieben und abgebildet hat; diese Anzahl hat sich jetzt bis auf 86 vermehrt. Die hier behandelten Fossilien empfing ich z. T. aus den Sammlungen des Geologischen Institutes der Universität Amsterdam; einen kleinen Teil dieser Sammlung hat Prof. H.A. Brouwer von der Direktion der „Mijnbouwmaatschappij Boeton” erhalten, ein anderer Teil wurde diesem geologischen Museum geschenkt von Herrn Dr. W.P. de Roever, dessen Vater, Herr J.W. de Roever, damals Inspektor der „Stoomvaart-Maatschappij Nederland”, die Fossilien während eines Aufenthaltes auf der Insel Buton aus gleicher Quelle empfing; von beiden Sammlungen ist der genauere Fundort nicht bekannt. Dr. C.O. van Regteren Altena hat die obenerwähnten Mollusken zuerst durchgesehen, konnte diese Arbeit aber nicht beenden und überliess mir das Material zur weiteren Bearbeitung, dabei auch seine Notizen freundlichst zu meiner Verfügung stellend. Es war für uns beide von Interesse, unsere palaeontologischen Ergebnisse auf diese Weise durch Vergleich an einer und derselben Sammlung indopacifischer Mollusken nachprüfen zu können und ich danke Herrn v. Regteren herzlich für diese Gelegenheit zu einem regen Gedankenaustausch. Dass ich diese Arbeit luiternehmen konnte, verdanke ich selbstverständlich auch der Freundlichkeit der Direktion des hiesigen geologischen Institutes.

Description: This annotated list of the mammals, lizards and mollusks of the Leeward Group, is based on author’s collection and therefore includes additional mainland-records of the island-species. As a rule a short commentary is given only as a guide to the adopted nomenclature and classification, in case of controversial data which are not yet settled, if important for our knowledge of regional distribution, mentioning vernacular names. Regarding the mammals, all known material-records are included.

Description: In 1928 maakte J. Cosijn, als eerste Leidsche student, een begin met de detailkaarteering 1:25000 van een deel der Bergamasker Alpen. Thans is dit werk zoover gevorderd, dat een strook tusschen het Lago di Como en het Ogliodal vrijwel geheel gekaarteerd is. Dat bij zoovele onderzoekers verschil van opvatting over het bepalen van stratigrafische grenzen heerscht, valt niet te verwonderen. Zoo ontstonden feitelijk drie groote problemen, t. w.

Description: La région étudiée est située dans les montagnes du Liban, à cheval sur le Liban Sud et la plaine de la Békaa et s’approche des contreforts de l’Anti-Liban (Fig. 2, p. 256, Fig. 3, p. 260). Cette région fut choisie parce qu’elle s’étend sur un terrain géologiquement fort intéressant et parce que le fond topographique venait d’être levé. Elle couvre la région haute du Liban Sud, de l’un à l’autre bord, déborde un peu à l’Ouest sur le plateau cénomanien côtier et pénètre largement à l’Est dans la Békaa. Dans la région haute le Crétacé inférieur est exceptionnellement développé et riche en faune et le Jurassique y constitue la longue crête du Djebel Barouk. Dans la Békaa se trouvent les termes plus élevés de la série stratigraphique; Cénomanien, Turonien, Sénonien et Eocène, de sorte que toute la série, depuis le Kimmeridgien jusqu’à l’Eocène compris, est représentée.

Description: The Pasoemah region S of the Goemai Mts. in W. Palembang is largely occupied by Quaternary volcanics, which form a sharply dissected plateaulike country, whose surface gradually slopes downward in an ENE direction from ± 1000 m to ± 300 m above sea-level, conformably to the courses of the Selangis and Lematang Rivers above their point of confluence. Where the Lematang River unites with the Moelak River, the acid welded tuffs of the Pasoemah highland, to which attention will be drawn in this paper, are cut off by a steep bluff, formed undoubtedly by retrogressive erosion, which was substantially facilitated by the presence of vertical cleavage planes in the rhyolitic tuff series. In the Goemai Mts., described elsewhere in detail by K.A.F.R. Musper (1937) and also dealt with by the present writer in a previous paper (J. Westerveld, 1941), a core of strongly folded lower-Cretaceous sediments, cut by various intrusiva, is covered unconformably by a steeply tilted series of Eogene or old-Miocene andesitic tuffs and breccias, the Lower Kikim tuffs, which again are covered with slight unconformity by the old-Miocene Upper Kikim tuffs or basal section of the Batoeradja-Telisa series. The base of the Pasoemah volcanics is generally formed by the S-ward dipping Telisa beds or upper part of the latter series; a monotonous sequence of Globigerina marls and shales with intercalated andesitic tuffs and breccias, layers of glauconitic sandstone, platy or concretionnary limestones, and occasional horizons with plant remains. Below the Quaternary tuff mantles this series unquestionably merges S-ward into the late-Miocene Lower Palembang beds, which only seem to be exposed quite locally at the bottom of the Selangis gorge NE of Pageralam (Musper, 1937, p. 41). The lower and thickest portion of the flat-lying, post-Tertiary, volcanic sequence is formed by welded rhyolitic tuffs, and the upper part by andesitic tuffs and agglomerates from the andesitic volcanoes, which border the Pasoemah highland on the W (G. Dempo), the S (the volcanoes of the Semendoh highland) and the E (the G. Isau-isau). Of these eruption points the Dempo volcano and the Semendoh volcanoes lie outside the map region.

Description: My revision of the Burseraceae in Pulle’s Flora of Suriname is extended here to a monographic treatment of those Burseraceous genera of which representatives occur in Suriname. Engler’s monograph of this family dates from nearly sixty years ago, and since that time many new species have been published. These additions and the large number of minor and major problems which presented themselves, doubtless justify the publication of this study. I am bound to admit however that not all problems could be solved. The present paper is divided into a General Part and a Taxonomic Part. The critical remarks concerning the whole family and its tribes are dealt with in the General Part, and those referring to the separate genera and species are to be found in the appropriate place in the Taxonomic Part; to the former is added a list of general literature, and to the latter a list of collectors’ numbers and indices of vernacular and scientific names.

Description: In my revision of the Turneraceae for PULLE’s Flora of Suriname, I have accepted the genera Piriqueta and Turnera in the delimitation given to them by URBAN. The distinction rests on the presence in Piriqueta of a “corona” at the insertion of the petals. This corona, however, is often so weakly developed as to be almost invisible, and as moreover, the African representatives of Piriqueta appear to be more easily distinguishable from the American ones than the latter from some of the Turneras, the taxonomic importance of this organ appears to be somewhat dubious. A decision of the question, however, would necessitate a more extensive study of the genera than the demands of the present revision would justify; owing to lack of material, moreover, such a study would be impossible at the present time. The only species by which the genus Piriqueta is represented in Suriname was split by Urban in a fairly large number of varieties, of which four have been quoted by him from Suriname, namely: the var. genuina, the var. latifolia, the var. foliosa and the var. bracteolata. The var. foliosa differs from the type mostly in a more luxuriant growth and is very probably nothing but a form growing under somewhat different conditions. The bracteoles of the var. bracteolata are rather variable in size, and even in the specimen quoted by URBAN in the main not different from those found in other plants; it is not impossible that the somewhat larger size of some of them may be due to the presence of parasites. The leaves of the var. latifolia are distinctly wider than those of the type, and it is not improbable that this difference will prove constant. A study in the field, eventually supplemented by culture experiments. however, would be necessary to decide the point. For the present it is perhaps better not to lay too much stress on this rather insignificant difference.

Description: Die Frage nach der Art, wie die nordwesteuropäische Calluna-Heide entstanden ist, und wann dies geschah, wurde in den letzten Jahren erneut diskutiert. In der vorliegenden Mitteilung wird versucht, auf Grund der Resultate pollenanalytischer Untersuchungen kleiner Moore im Heidegebiet der niederländischen Provinz Drenthe einen Beitrag zur Lösung dieses Problems zu geben. Der von uns begangene Weg wurde bereits 1931 von OVERBECK (1) *) vorgeschlagen. Dieser Autor brachte damals auch schon ein Beispiel derartiger Untersuchungen in der Bearbeitung kleiner Moore auf der Vegesacker Geest in der Nähe von Bremen: des Moores bei Lilkendey und des Garlstedter Moores. Die Erscheinung, welche hier wichtig ist, ist folgende: In den Diagrammen der Ablagerungen beider Moore zeigen sich starke Anschwellungen der Ericaceenkurve zur Zeit des Buchenanstieges, die sich wohl nicht ausschliesslich oder auch nur zum grösseren Teil auf die Produktion an Ericaceenpollen des Moores zurückführen lassen. OVERBECK hebt hervor, dass diese Tatsache eine starke Ausbreitung der Heide gegen Ende der Bildungszeit des älteren Hochmoortorfs anzeigt, also im Subboreal, das etwa der Bronzezeit entspricht.

Description: In trying to prepare the account of the Myrtaceae for PULLE’s Flora of Suriname I soon found that a revision of the Myrtaceae of whole Guiana, especially of French Guiana, and preferably also of the Amazonian district, is necessary. The account would be of little value as long as our knowledge of the synonymy and the distribution of the species is so incomplete. The Myrtaceae of Guiana have been treated by BERG in Linnaea XXVII (1855—56) p. 1—512, XXIX (1858) p. 207—256 and XXX (1861) p. 647—713. Yet many species previously described from French Guiana, especially by AUBLET and by DE CANDOLLE, were not known to BERG. Moreover, BERG often based species on insufficient material, as has been pointed out by URBAN in his revision of the West Indian Myrtaceae in Engl. Bot. Jahrb. XIX (1895) p. 563. In this publication of URBAN the synonymy of several species common to the West Indies and Guiana is cleared up (Trinidad and Tobago are included in the West Indies). Another valuable contribution is SAGOT’s too little noticed account of the Myrtaceae of French Guiana in Annales Sciences Naturelles 6.20 (1885) p. 181—198. But SAGOT apparently did not know BERG’s last publication in Linnaea XXX, in which RICHARD’s collection from French Guiana is treated. Thus SAGOT sometimes cites specimens of RICHARD without knowing that they must be duplicates of the types of one of BERG’s new species and his account remains very incomplete.

Description: Though an excellent, critical monograph of the genus Cassipourea was published some years ago by ALSTON (in Kew Bulletin, 1925, p. 241—276), I should like to make a few remarks on the South-American species of this genus as my revision for PULLE’s Flora of Suriname III.2 has brought to light a few new facts. It will also give me an opportunity to refer to a publication of BRIQUET on some American representatives of this genus (in Candollea IV, 1931, p. 342—350), which disagrees with regard to a number of species with ALSTON’s interpretations. The species which covers the largest area is the chiefly West-Indian C. elliptica (Sw.) Poir. Formerly also a number of West- Brazilian and Peruvian specimens were referred to it, but ALSTON pointed out that these plants belonged to another species for which he introduced the name C. peruviana. A new West-Indian species, based on Broadway nr. 3841 and 4631, both from Tobago, was described by BRIQUET under the name C. Broadwayi. This species is, in my opinion, conspecific with C. elliptica. BRIQUET amply discussed the differences with C. latifolia Alston from Trinidad, but does not mention its relationship to C. elliptica. , though, in view of the latter’s area of distribution, this would have been more to the point. That ALSTON had already referred Broadway nr. 3841 to C. elliptica was apparently overlooked by BRIQUET. In opposition to BRIQUET I agree with ALSTON that no value should be set on the varieties of C. elliptica described by GRISEBACH (Fl. Br. W. Ind. Isl., I860, p. 274).

Description: Paspalum montanum HENR. nov. spec. Perennis, caespitosa, stricte erecta, ad 60 cm alta; culmi glabri, plurinodes, nodis adpresse pubescentibus; vaginae arctae vel parum hiantes, hirsutae vel villoso-pubescentes, ligula scariosa, brunnea; laminae lineares, ad 1 cm latae vel inferiores angustiores, ad 20 cm longae, acuminatae, nervo crasso praeditae; inflorescentia terminalis, paniculata, e racemis paucis, in axillis barbatis, 4—5 cm longis formata; rhachis partialis subplana, leviter undulata, spiculae binatae, inaequaliter pedicellatae, altera subsessilis, altera longiter pedicellata, pedicelli glabri, subangulati; spiculae leviter sed distincte obovatae, strigosae, 2 mm longae, ad 1.4 mm latae, apice obtusae, vix vel leviter tantum acutatae, nervis haud visibilis, gluma inferior deest, gluma superior et lemma sterilis aequilongae, lemma fertilis 1.7 mm longa, badia vel brunnea, suborbicularis, distincte striato-punctata, haud nitida.

Description: In Eerbeek, in einem der schön gelegenen Dörfer der Provinz Gelderland, steht ein altes Schloss, von der Verkehrsstrasse weit entfernt, und am Bach entlang zu erreichen. Es ist das sogenannte ”Huis Eerbeek“, das Haus der Frau Dr. Weber, die Herrin im wahren Sinne des Wortes. Da können wir heute der neunzigjährigen begegnen, beim Heruntersteigen der steinernen Treppe, oder auch am Teiche, bei den Karpfen und Enten; nicht selten auch trifft man sie ihre schönen Buchenalleen musternd, durch die sie mit raschen Schritten sich fortbewegt. Täglich nach dem Mittagsmahl geht sie spazieren, manchmal um mit dem Gärtner und mit ihren Bauern etwas zu besprechen. Und was gibt es in der heutigen Zeit nicht alles auf einem Gut zu tun, das Gut, das sie mit ihrem Gatten gehütet und entwickelt hat, bei welcher Arbeit sie beide ihren grossen biologischen Interessen frönen konnten.

Description: It needs an explanation why among the botanical papers published in this volume to honour Mrs. Weber—van Bosse on her 90th birthday a zoological contribution has been inserted. Those who have read the curriculum vitae of this wellknown botanist in the foregoing pages of this volume will not wonder, for they know that she has been keenly interested for more than half a century in the zoological work of her late husband. And so among the chorus of botanists the voice of a zoologist could hardly be missed. For many years I have enjoyed the friendship of both, and I am grateful for this opportunity to show Mrs. Weber my affection and my admiration. When contemplating an adequate theme for this paper it occurred to me that in some way or other it had to dwell on the relations between zoology and botany and as the distribution of animals is a branch of science which has always interested both Max Weber and me, I decided on the influence which the distribution of plants has on that of animals.

Description: In a tube (no 282) containing several specimens of algae collected by Dr R. E. Vaughan, Curepipe, Mauritius, in quiet lagoons at Black River Bay a few specimens of a small delicate Griffithsia occurred as an epiphyte upon Laurencia papillosa (Forssk.) Grev. Since this plant has turned out to be a not previously described species it is a great pleasure to me on the occasion of Mme Dr A. Weber—van Bosse’s 90th birthday to name it in honour of her in the hope that Mme Weber will take it not only as a proof of my gratitude for a friendship extending over many years, but also as a token of my admiration for the important contribution made by Mme Weber to our knowledge of the tropical marine algal flora, especially by her great classic work ”Liste des Algues du Siboga“.

Description: When revising the Visca of the Malay Archipelago and Indo-China, I met with some nomenclatorial difficulties, for which a more thorough study of the British-Indian Visca seemed necessary. The distinction of the species in HOOKER’S Flora soon appeared not to be depended upon. At the time of HOOKER’S revising the British-Indian Loranthaceae, only a scanty quantity of herbarium was available, and, the distinction between several species being extremely difficult, it is no wonder that HOOKER’S treatment of Viscum is no more up to date now. As appears from notes on herbarium sheets, GAMBLE later made a rather thorough study of the British-Indian Visca, which was only partly included in his Madras Flora, but he did not include the species of adjacent countries in his study. We now have a much larger quantity of herbarium materials at our disposal; several species described from outside British-India appeared to occur inside its frontiers, and new species had to be described from British India and China. Therefore a critical revision of all the Asiatic species seemed not to be superfluous. Moreover, the close relationship of the Australian Visca with Asiatic species made it desirable to include also the former in this revision. A revision of all the Asiatic, Malaysian, and Australian Visca would therefore have been the result, if not political circumstances had rendered it impossible to obtain the materials of several important Herbaria in the Tropics. I therefore preferred to close my study on the genus Viscum provisorily, and to publish it in the present form, in expectation of better times. The Herbaria upon which the present revision is based, mainly are those of Kew Gardens (K), and the Dehra Dun Forest Experiment Station (DD), the Viscum materials of which were kindly sent to me for examination. Many data, however, could be added from other Herbaria, such as those of Buitenzorg (B), Berlin-Dahlem (BD), the British Museum of Natural History (BM), Berkeley (UC), Brisbane (Bris), Edinburg (E), Geneva (G), Göteborg (Göt), Groningen (Gro), Honolulu (H), Leiden (L), Manila (M), Paris (P), Shillong (Sh), Singapore (S), and Vienna (V).

Description: The Talaud Islands are forming part of the Malay Archipelago, being situated north of Celebes and the Moluccas, south of Mindanao and east of the Sangihe group, between 3°45’ and 5°35’ N. lat. and 126°32’ and 127°10’ E. long. The main group consists of three larger islands, viz. Karakelong, Salebaboe and Kaboeroeang. The Nenoesa islands, a group formed by the small islands of Garete, Karaton, Merampi, Mengkopoe, Intata, Kakelotan and Maroh are situated northeast of the main group, including also Miangas (Palmas), an islet about 65 miles north of Karakelong, near Mindanao.

Description: Several years ago the Director of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, was kind enough to lend me the Sapotaceous material from the Pacific region preserved in its Herbarium. It has been enumerated underneath together with additional material from other herbaria. These have been quoted by means of the following abbreviations, which are taken from Lanjouw’s list, published in Chronica Botanica V, 1932, 142. A. = Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, Jamaica Plain (Mass.), U.S.A. B. = Botanisches Museum, Berlin-Dahlem. Bish. = Bernice P. Bish. Museum, Honolulu, Hawaiian Isl. and some specimens from the private herbarium of Mr O. Degener. Bz. = Herbarium, Gov. Botanic Gardens, Buitenzorg, Java. Cal. = California Botanical Gardens, San Francisco. G. = Institut de Botanique systématique de l’Université de Genève. GB. = Botanical Garden, Göteborg. GH. = Gray Herbarium of Harvard University, Cambridge (Mass.), U.S.A. K. = Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. L. = Rijksherbarium, Leiden. NY. = New York Botanical Garden, New York. O. = Universitetets Botaniske Museum, Oslo. P. = Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Lab. de Phanérogamie, Paris. PRC. = Botanical Institute, Charles University, Praha. Besides, a number of the specimens quoted are probably represented in other, particularly American herbaria, of which no data were available. I wish to tender my sincere thanks to the directors of the institutions mentioned for their kind assistance.

Description: A few localities in which collecting has been done in 1930 (cf. Zool. Jb. Syst. 64, 1933) are included without special numbering. A capital-letter after the station-number indicates a different habitat or a comparable habitat in another locality; an ordinary-letter indicates that the same habitat has already been studied before.

Description: Much has been said of the geographical relations and the origin of the West Indian fauna, especially as to that of its vertebrates and mollusks. Mostly the islands off the Venezuelan coast, for the greater part within sight of the South American continent, remained out of question, although obvious differences between the fauna of Curaçao and that of the adjacent mainland were rather quickly noticed and its affinity towards the fauna of the Greater Antilles even emphasized (Bland, 1861; Baker, 1924). Without going into the West Indian fauna as a whole, or the current theories that try to explain its distribution, an attempt is being made to find out what palaeogeographical indication is given by the fauna of the Leeward Group, by careful examination of the distribution of its mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fishes and mollusks, — these being the only groups, perhaps with exception of the birds, which are sufficiently well known to serve as a base for zoogeographical considerations. Biocoenoses were not studied, only the distribution of species and subspecies was taken into account. The biotopes usually being very small and scattered by many isolating factors formed by accidental circumstances, the fauna being very poor and the biology of the species practically unknown, it will be clear that we have to be unpretentious in our aim and very careful in our conclusions.

Description: In June 1937 the State Museum of Geology and Mineralogy at Leiden received from Mr. A.S. Dresden at Amsterdam a diamond crystal of a hitherto unknown shape. The crystal is colourless and transparent. Mr. J. Bolman determined its weight at 0.1698 g and its specific gravity at 3.4165.

Description: De koralenfauna van het Tertiair van Nederland was tot nu toe zeer onvolledig bekend. Krejci (1925) noemde het voorkomen van Flabellum cristatum, Fl. Pompeckji en Fl. Waelii, var. Dingdenensis van de Giffel bij Winterswijk en van Fl. Waelii van Maasbree. Vervolgens noemde Burck (1937) uit het Bartonien van Buurse en Boekelo een drietal koralen. Dit is alles wat ik aan gegevens over Nederlandsche koralen uit het Tertiair in de nieuwere literatuur heb kunnen vinden. Naast de, vaak zeer rijke, molluskenfauna van het Tertiair spelen de koralen dan ook een ondergeschikte rol en de meeste vormen zijn als gidsfossiel bovendien slecht te gebruiken, daar ze zich haast onveranderd in de verschillende formaties voortzetten. Vooral door het optreden van vele Flabellumsoorten heeft de rijke midden-miocene koralenfauna wel een zeer eigen beeld.

Description: This survey of the scorpions of the Leeward Group is based on author’s collection and therefore includes some mainlandrecords from northern Venezuela and northeastern Colombia. Material from Curaçao, deposited in the “Zoölogisch Museum, Amsterdam” (A) and the “Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden” (L) has been included, and the few island-records which were found in literature mentioned. Important new localities are indicated by an exclamation-mark. A description of the localities may be found in the 1st and the 4th paper of this series.

Description: Die vorliegende Arbeit stellt ein ausführliches Resumé einer Arbeit in holländischer Sprache dar: „De geologie van het westelijk deel van het Heuvelland van Monferrato tusschen Turijn en Murisengo”, Dissert. Leiden, Augustus 1941 2). Das bearbeitete Gebiet ist bisher, namentlich in tektonischer Hinsicht, nur oberflächlich untersucht worden. Störungen wurden nie erwähnt, Profile waren nur spärlich vorhanden. Da sich die Stratigraphie als ausserordentlich interessant erwies, sobald die feineren Merkmale in einer Karte eingetragen wurden, wie es hier geschah 3), konnte zum ersten Mal ein Schema der sedimentären Genese für einen erheblichen Teil der Berge von Monferrato aufgestellt werden.

Description: Das am 21. November 1942 im beinahe vollendeten 92. Lebensjahr erfolgte Dahinscheiden des um die geologische Erforschung der niederländischen Kolonien in Ost- und Westindien so hoch verdienten Gelehrten veranlasst mich in dieser Zeitschrift, die ja die Fortsetzung der von Martin gegründeten „Sammlungen des Geologischen Reichsmuseum” ist, noch einmal auf die wissenschaftliche Bedeutung seines Lebenswerkes zurückzukommen. Die erfolgreiche Tätigkeit Martin’s als Dozent und Direktor des Reichsmuseum für Geologie und Mineralogie ist in der, anlässlich seines 80. Geburtstages herausgegebenen Festschrift 1) schon eingehend gewürdigt worden, auf seine wissenschaftliche Tätigkeit wurde bei dieser Gelegenheit nur kurz hingewiesen, sie war damals ja noch nicht abgeschlossen. Waren es auch namentlich die gründlichen Untersuchungen und eingehenden Beschreibungen der Mollusken aus dem Tertiär von Java, die Martin bei den Paläontologen der ganzen Welt bekannt gemacht haben, so war er doch keineswegs nur Molluskenspezialist. Wir sehen, dass seine Aufsätze in den Sammlungen die Untersuchungen von Fossilien aus fast allen Tiergruppen und den verschiedensten Formationen des indischen Archipel enthalten und häufig waren die darauf gegründeten Altersbestimmungen für die weitere geologische Erforschung der betreffenden Gebiete grundlegend. Martin war aber ebensowenig wie ausgesprochener Molluskenspezialist auch nur Paläontologe. 1884 unternahm er mit einigen holländischen Forschern eine Reise nach Westindien. Die ersten geologischen Karten von Curaçao, Bonaire und Aruba, sowie eine geologische Aufnahme des unteren Suriname in niederländisch Guyana waren die wesentlichen Ergebnisse dieser Reise. 1891/92 befand sich Martin auf einer geologischen Forschungsreise in Ostindien, wo er namentlich einige Inseln der westlichen Molukken erforschte, die geologisch damals noch ganz unbekannt waren. Eine besondere Leistung, für die damalige Zeit war seine Durchquerung der Insel Buru, deren Ergebnisse lange Zeit unser einziges Wissen vom geologischen Bau dieser Insel darstellten. So kann Martin mit Recht zu den Pionieren in der geologischen Erforschung des Indischen Archipels gerechnet werden.

Description: As far as I know, only three papers are dealing with Charophyta of the Netherlands West Indies. In 1858, in “Monatsbericht der königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin”, BRAUN records two species from Paramaribo, viz. Nitella microcarpa A. BR. and Chara hydropitys REICHENB. ap. MOESSL. These species are also enumerated in the “Fragmente einer Monographie der Characeen” (BRAUN & NORDSTEDT, 1882), in which another species is recorded from Curaçao, viz. Chara gymnopus A. Br. f. curassavica A. BR., now to be named Chara zeylanica Willd. f. curassavica (A. BR.) H. et J. GROVES. The third paper is that of H. and J. GROVES in URBAN’s Symbolae Antillanae (1911), in which the last-named species is once more recorded. In 1930 Mr P. WAGENAAR HUMMELINCK made an excursion to Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire with the main object of studying the land and freshwater fauna. In 1936 and 1937 he again visited these islands and, moreover, a.o. the island of Margarita off the Venezuelan coast, the Venezuelan peninsula Paraguaná and the Colombian peninsula La Goajira (WAGENAAR HUMMELINCK, 1940). In the various inland-waters also Algae and Phanerogams have been collected. The aquatic Phanerogams were described by VAN OOSTSTROOM (1939); the Charophyta will be the subject of the present paper.

Description: Die Pflanzendecke unseres Landes hat während des Quartärs grosse Änderungen erlitten. Dies wird besonders deutlich beim Vergleich der limburgischen fossilen Flora, wie sie in einer vortrefflichen Arbeit des Ehepaares REID (Lit. 1) beschrieben ist, mit der gegenwärtig einheimischen Vegetation. Im allgemeinen wird die erwähnte Flora für jungtertiär gehalten, jedoch ist ihre Stelle im Pliozän umstritten. Von den ungefähr 240 Phanerogamen, von welchen sich Reste im Ton von Reuver, Swalmen und Brunssum vorfanden, sind laut der Berechnung von E. M. REID nur 12% heute indigen und 88% exotisch; mehr als die Hälfte der letzteren sind identisch mit rezenten sino-amerikanischen Arten (Lit. 2).

Description: Het Hurener Veld is gelegen in de provincie Overijssel, ten Noorden van de spoorlijn Almelo-Zwolle; tussen Wierden en Nijverdal (zie kaart, fig. 1). Het maakt deel uit van een klein veen van ongeveer 13,5 km², dat nu practisch geheel ontgonnen is. Dit veen ligt in een dal, dat in het Oosten en Westen begrensd wordt door heuvelruggen, die ontstaan zijn door stuwing van de Riss-gletschers. Aan de Westkant zorgt de Regge voor de afwatering van dit dal. Deze afwatering moet echter zeer onvoldoende zijn geweest, waardoor in het dal veenvorming mogelijk was. Het ontstaan van het aangrenzende moerasveen (lagg) in het Noorden kan ook het gevolg zijn geweest van deze onvoldoende afwatering; ongelukkig genoeg is dit moerasveen geheel ontgonnen, zodat een onderzoek naar het verband met het veen van het Hurener Veld onmogelijk is.

Description: Among the most aberrant types of pollen grains found in plants which have been referred to the family Acanthaceae, are those of the genera Meyenia N. ab E. and Thomandersia Baill. Although the pollen grains were described by LINDAU under different names, those of the first genus as cogwheel-shaped and those of the latter as lenticular, they are really very similar: in both genera they are depressed globose, provided with five or more meridional grooves extending from the equator to about halfway the poles, and without clearly circumscribed germ pores. The difference between the two kinds of grains lies in the presence or absence of ribs: in Meyenia the grooves are borne on the top of ribs separated from each other by shallow depressions, whereas in Thomandersia the whole surface between the grooves is more or less evenly bent. Material of Meyenia was not yet available to me, but judged from the description the genus differs but slightly from Thunbergia L.f. sensu Lindau. In fact, the two genera have often been united. The pollen grains of Thunbergia sensu Lindau resemble those of Meyenia in the absence of germ pores and in the presence of grooves, but the latter are never meridional: as a rule, they are more or less serpentine (cf. BREMEKAMP in Rec. d. trav. bot. néerl. XXXV, 1938, pp. 142—143, fig. 2 A—G and Tab. XIII B—E).

Description: Originally it had been my intention to write a monograph of the Melastomataceae occurring in the Malay Archipelago. Owing to difficulties caused by the development of the political situation it was impossible for me, to carry out this plan to its full extent. As the important collections of the Herbarium of the Buitenzorg Botanical Garden could not be consulted and as most foreign herbaria too were inaccessible, I had to restrict myself almost entirely to the study of the collections preserved in the Utrecht and Leyden Herbaria. These however, though not so rich as those of the Buitenzorg herbarium, are very important, especially by the large number of type specimens. Of the great number of species described from parts of the Malay Archipelago outside the Dutch influence sphere, the types themselves could as a rule not be examined, and duplicates too were but rarely available. For this reason I was forced to restrict my endeavours almost entirely to the examination of the material collected in the parts known as the Netherlands East Indies. However, all genera known from the malayan region, for so far as they are in my opinion well-defined, have been incorporated in my keys. A detailed study of the Netherlands East Indian species was possible for me, as almost all important types are present in the Leyden and Utrecht Herbaria. The Melastomataceae especially those from Sumatra, Java and New Guinea are richly represented in these collections. Borneo, Celebes and the Lesser Sunda Islands probably would yield interesting results. The rich collections obtained from British North Borneo and Sarawak make it probable that the harvest obtained from the Netherlands part of Borneo will also contain many new and interesting forms, but of these collections but a small part has been distributed so far by the Buitenzorg herbarium.

Description: Among the collections made by H. E. ROMBOUTS from 1935— 1938 on the expeditions to the Suriname-Brazil frontier there are a number of Euphorbiaceae which are either new, or rare. As I was engaged in other work I could not begin the study of these specimens before August of this year. Because of the international troubles I have not been able to secure type-specimens from foreign herbaria, so that in some cases my interpretation of earlier described species may be wrong, though most of the problems could be solved satisfactory with the aid of the material preserved at Leiden and Utrecht. Most of these specimens were collected by ROMBOUTS on the Great Savanna near the sources of the Sipaliwini River, which forms part of the boundary between Brazil and Suriname. Former studies on ROMBOUTS’ collections had shown already that this region is comparatively rich in rare or new species. It would be of the utmost importance if a botanist could visit this region to collect on a large scale and to make a study of the vegetation. Without doubt the results would justify the comparatively low expenses needed for such an expedition.

Description: L'éditeur de ce journal vient de recevoir de Mme Ruge, née Baenziger, une des plus anciennes amies de Mme Weber, la lettre suivante, qu’il est heureux de pouvoir faire imprimer ci-dessous: Ma chère Anna, Quatre-vingt-dix ans! Voilà pour la première fois dans notre amitié de longues années que je constate une indiscrétion de votre part; vous à qui l’on pouvait à bon droit reprocher un excès de discrétion tant sur le domaine de la pensée que sur celui de l’action. Et cependant, ces quatrevingt-dix ans vous ont été imposés par les puissances au dessus de nous. Certes, les années écoulées depuis la mort de votre mari vous ont placé devant line bien lourde tâche, mais d’autant plus lumineuse me semble votre vie avant ce douloureux événement. Que de multiples richesses, que de souvenirs précieux à des événements, auxquels j’ai pu prendre part. Au moment que je fis votre connaissance je me rappelle votre enthousiasme de pouvoir suivre des cours à l’université; vous et deux autres dames étudiantes parmi les premières admises à l’université. En pensées, je vous revois rentrant avec le professeur Weber d’un voyage aux Indes, votre sympathie pour les aborigènes de l’Insulinde, vos histoires savoureuses d’une réception par un prince indigène et de ses filles, votre haut estime pour un prêtre, le Rév. Père le Cocq d’Armandville et pour son travail dans l’île de Flores. Tout cela valait certes les récits habituels de voyage imprimés, souvent si longs et fastidieux. Comme je me rappelle la soirée, quand vous me racontiez de votre séjour dans l’extrême Nord à Tromsô, de votre course dans un petit bateau à partir de Vardô, piloté par un couple lappon à travers les rapides d’une rivière qui, aboutissant dans un fjord, devait vous conduire au débarcadère du vapeur, qui était sur le point de lever l’ancre pour le dernier départ de la saison vers le Sud. Encore maintenant je ressens votre tension: arrivons nous à temps, oui où non! Les provisions de voyage étaient épuisées, la vraie faim se faisait sentir, heureusement qu’au petit restaurant du port on faisait bouillir le saumon, la seule nourriture de l’endroit, mais voilà la sirène du vapeur, qui appelle d’urgence les voyageurs et empêche de goûter au saumon. Plus calmement et plus selon mon goût s’effectua l’excursion à l’île de Vlieland, que les deux couples d’amis entreprirent pendant un congé de la Pentecôte. Un char à bancs nous déposa à De Cocksdorp, le bateau-poste nous conduisit de Texel à Vlieland; en somme un voyage sans émotions et qui pourtant amena le conducteur de la chariole à nous demander s’il s’agissait pour nous autres vraiment d’une partie de plaisir.

Description: Dr. C. A. BACKER and Dr. O. POSTHUMUS, Varenflora voor Java. Overzicht deiop Java voorkomende varens en varenachtigen, hare verspreiding, oekologie en toepassingen. Uitgave van (Fern flora for Java. Conspectus of the ferns and fern allies occurring in Java, their distribution, ecology and use. Issued by) ’s Lands Plantentuin, Buitenzorg, June 1939. I—XLVII, 1—370, 1 Plate, 1 map and 81 text figures. — ƒ 7.50. The users both at home and abroad of Dr. BACKER’s florae have always regretted that, however carefully these books have been prepared, most of them were imperfect in one way or another. They were either restricted to certain vegetations (weedflorae for tea and sugar-cane) or did not cover all groups of vascular plants; the ”Flora van Batavia“ (1907), the ”Schoolflora voor Java“ (1911) contain only the Dicotyledoneae-Dialypetalae, the ”Handboek voor de flora van Java“ (1928) contains scattered families of the Ferns and Fern Allies, Gymnosperms and many Monocotyledons. This phenomenon is probably due to the fact that BACKER is a most accurate and painstaking worker, who is inclined to refrain from publication unless he is reasonably sure to be correct; and we all know how difficult it is to reach a mental state of this description. However, BACKER has for some years been engaged in preparing with untiring and admirable energy, a new and complete ”Schoolflora voor Java“, the manuscript of which is rapidly growing to maturity. When the Pteridophytes were completed as far as the regions up to 3300’ were concerned, Dr. POSTHUMUS suggested a collaboration in order to make a complete flora of vascular cryptogams. This collaboration of our keenest connoisseur of the Java flora and our best pteridologist resulted in the book, which we have the pleasure to announce and recommend here. Together with the new. ”Schoolflora“ to which we may be looking forward soon, it will form the first reliable flora of the vascular plants of Java. Although the Dutch language is probably less unapproachable than the Russian one, with which Soviet botanists try to convince the world that everybody should know Russian (or that it is not necessary that other peoples should know Russian botany?), it is, I think, to be regretted that our mother tongue has been chosen for a book which many foreign botanists, notably in British Malaya and British Borneo, may desire to use. This is the more so, as the book does not only contain keys to the determination and descriptions of the 15 families, 104 genera and 515 species, but also interesting chapters on the distribution (with map), the ecology, the sociology and the use of the plants described. Also the introductory paragraphs (pp. XIII—XXX) contain many valuable and interesting notes on the morphology; the wording of these chapters is probably not easy for those who are only little familiar with our language, as BACKER has a certain predilection for a literary style.

Description: An attempt has been made to subdivide a very polymorphous plant species by means of a quantitative statistical method. This method has been based upon the following working hypothesis: 1° as some morphological characters of the material, concerning e. g. the shape of the leaves, the length of the pedicels etc., show an extremely great variation, each of these characters in every specimen at hand may be stated to be in one of three (one intermediate and two extreme) conditions; 2° if a character happens to be in an intermediate condition in a relatively great number of specimens the difference between the extreme conditions of that character may be considered insignificant from a taxonomical point of view; 3° the fewer characters of two or more specimens are differing significantly (in the way mentioned), the more reason there is to consider those specimens to belong together; and, on the contrary, the more numerous the significant differences are, the more reason there is to distribute the specimens to two (or more) different groups. On the basis of this working hypothesis the material at hand, consisting of 143 specimens (all considered to belong to the Sapotaceous Planchonella sandwicensis, which was discussed in a paper by Lam), could be subdivided into two different groups. Five characters were chosen, each allowing to state one intermediate and two opposite extreme conditions. Of these the shape of the leaf proved to be a most important criterion for a subdivision. After this had been stated, a purely quantitative check was made which largely endorsed the result.

Description: In the winter and early spring of 1916 Mrs. Anna Weber-van Bosse at her hospitable residence near Eerbeek initiated me in the study of Freshwater Algae. For several years after that date in numerous trips all over this country I collected and studied some thousands of samples from all kinds of freshwater ponds and lakes, canals and streams. The Desmids soon drew my special attention, when an unexpectedly rich and varied Desmid flora was found in certain fens and ponds in the diluvial and moor districts of our country.

Description: Manilkara ADANSON, Fam. II, 1763, 166; PIERRE & URBAN, Symb. Antill. 51, 1904, 162 (as a subgenus); DUBARD, Ann. Mus. Col. Mars. 23, 1915, 6; LECOMTE, Bull. du Museum, 1917, 35 and in Notul. Syst. 3, 1918, 340; BRITTON & WILSON, Scient. Surv. Porto Rico & Virg. Isl. VI, 1, 1925, 72; H.J. LAM, Bull. Jard. Bot. Buitenz., Ser. III, 7, 1925, 238 and 8, 1927, 481; BENOIST, Arch. Bot. 5, Mem. 1, 1931, 241; HUTCHINSON & DALZIEL, Fl. W. Trop. Afr. II, 1, 1931, 14; CHEVALIER, Rev. Bot. appl. & Agric. tropic. 12, 1932, 261, 350; STANDLEY, Trop. Woods 31, 1932, 45; LEMEE, Dictionn. Pl. Phanér. IV, 1932, 291; EYMA, Rec. Trav. Bot. néerl. 33, 1936, 205 — Manyl-kara RHEEDE, Hort. Mal. IV, 1673, 53, t. 25 — Mimusops L., sect. Ternaria DC., Prodr. 8, 1844, 203; as a subgenus in ENGLER, Monogr. Afr. Pfl. fam. und Gatt. 8, Sap., 1904, 55 — Delastrea A. DC. in DC., Prodr. VIII, 1844, 195 — Labramia A. DC., l.c. 672 — Mimusops L., sect. Euternaria ENGL., l.c. p.p. (except § Muriea) — Northia (not of HOOK, f.) sensu H. J. LAM, 1.c. 1925, 241 and 1927, 481, pro parte; H.J. LAM, Bern. P. Bish. Mus. Bull. 141, 1936, 163. Trees with hard and often reddish wood and sympodial branchlets; stipules caducous or none; leaves more or less coriaceous, often obovate with rounded apex, lower side often lighter coloured than upper one, with selereids (f. LECOMTE); tertiary nerves very slender and numerous, in general parallel to the secondary ones which are hardly more conspicuous, often with a minute reticulation between; inflorescences axillary, fasciculate; sepals in two rows of 3 each; petals 6, with narrowed base inserted on a corolla-tube as long as or shorter than the petals, each of them with two dorsal appendages which are mostly about as long as the petals and of the same shape but often narrower and more acute, rarely much shorter (about ½ or less in M. kanosiensis and M. vitiensis); stamens 6, epipetalous; staminodes 6 alternipetalous and in the same row as the stamens, differently shaped, broadly ovate, acuminate to small or subulate, irregularly dentate or fimbriate, trifid or bifid, sometimes scalelike, very rarely reduced to none (M. fasciculata, vitiensis) ovary 15—6-celled, pubescent, but sometimes surrounded by a glabrous adnate disc; cells 1-ovuled, ovules ventrally or basiventrally attached; fruit drupaceous, but pericarp often rather dry, 6—1-seeded; scar of the seed ventral or basiventral, long and narrow or rarely larger and ovate (fasciculata) or circular (M. Bojeri, dissecta, Eickii) albumen abundant, the cotyledons thin. About 74 species in all tropical countries, of which about 25 in Central America, about 34 in the African region and some 15 in Asia-Polynesia.

Description: Macrosolen urceolatus DANSER, n. sp. — Omnis glabra. Caules (2 suppetunt) graciles, ad 55 cm longi et ultra (supra basin decerpti), internodiis teretibus, inferioribus 2.5—6 cm longis, ad 4 mm diametro, superioribus plerumque paulo brevioribus, gradatim tenuioribus, ad 1.5 mm diametro, nodis vetustioribus incrassatis nonnihil applanatis, ad sesquiplo crassioribus quam internodia, iunioribus applanatis et dilatatis. Folia opposita vel subopposita; petiolus 3—8 mm longus, basi subteres, 1.5—1.75 mm latus, versus laminam paulum dilalatus et applanatus, subtus rotundatus, supra fere planus; lamina ovato-lanceolata, 5—12 cm longa, 1.5—4 cm lata, sub basi cuneata in petiolum contracta, apicem obtusum vel subobtusum versus leviter acuminata, margine saepe irregularis, nonnihil flavida (in herbario), utrinque opaca vel facie superiore nonnihil lucida, inferiore punctulis minimis atris numerosis, nervatura pinnata, costa facie superiore distincta usque ad apicem, plana sed saepe nonnihil prominula, facie inferiore a basi ad apicem gradatim minus prominens, saepe subcarinata, nervis lateralibus et venis utrinque visibilibus, facie inferiore distinctioribus quam superiore. Inflorescentiae racemosae pedunculatae, singulae vel binae vel ternae in axillis foliorum adultorum (nunquam in axillis foliorum rudimentariorum quae passim inveniuntur inter folia normalia); axes in scrobiculis corticis inserti, involucris nullis, basi nonnihil incrassati, caeterum subteretes, a basi circiter 1 mm crassa ad apicem c. 0.3 mm crassum sensim attenuati, 10—25 mm longi, pedunculo 3—10 mm longo, saepe nonnullis insertionibus et bractea singula sterilibus, parte florifera paribus florum 2 ad 5, nodis paulum dilatatis; pedicelli teretes, plerumque 2—3 mm longi, 0.25 mm crassi, basi in annulum incrassati; bracteae, ut bracteolae paulo minores, ellipticae, 0.75—1 mm longae, obtusae vel acutae, basi paulum connatae vel liberae, leviter concavae. Calyx urceolatus, supra partem inferiorem ellipsoidem circiter 1.5 mm longam 1 mm latam distincte contractus, deinde in partem superiorem infundibuliformem circiter 0.5 mm longam integerrimam ampliatus, parte libera autem brevissima. Corolla statu alabastri adulti ad 33 mm longa, supra basin rotundatam partibus 2/3 inferioribus late tubulosa vel magis inflata, ad 4 mm lata, ad apicem partis ampliatae alis 6, deinde contracta in collum 6-angulum lateribus cavis, 1.5 mm diametro, apice incrassata in clavam obovatam 6-angulam lateribus cavis costisque obtusis; denique divisa in lacinias 6 recurvas usque ad medias alas. Filamenta circiter 7 mm longa, antherae c. 2 mm longae, obtusae. Stylus corollae subaequilongus, circiter 1 mm supra basin articulatus, parte basali persistente versus basin cum disco 6-tuberculato connata supra 6-angula, deinde teres usque ad partem in collum inclusam ibique ad dimidiam crassitudinem attenuatus, in 2 mm superioribus iterum incrassatus, apice stigmate subgloboso, c. 0.8 mm diametro. Fructus ignotus. This Macrosolen is perhaps conspecific with M. tenuiflorus DANSER, which is likewise from East Borneo (Kong Kemoel), but the specimen described here differs by longer corollas and stamens, non-oviformous style-base, and narrow leaves. According to the description it is ap parently also very near M. javanus, but it is distinct by different shape, colour, and consistency of the leaves, the lack of black parts on the corolla, smaller bracts, and urceolate calyx.

Description: Contrary to what Pliny and Dodoens assert, Satureja hortensis appeared to be very deleterious to onions when these species were sown together.

Description: The only hitherto known comprehensive studies on the Netherlands Indian Charophyta appeared in 1897 and 1899 in the ”Prodrome de la Flore Algologique des Indes Neerlandaises“, and were compiled by E. DE WILDEMAN. These papers intend to give a mere enumeration of all Charophyta published up to 1896, and therefore mainly contain the species recorded by the famous Charaphytologists ALEX. BRAUN and OTTO NORDSTEDT in 1849, 1882, 1888 and 1889. In the twentieth century only three papers were published on the Charophyta of this area, viz. that by DE WILDEMAN (1900), that by GUTWINSKY (1902), and that by FILARSZKY (1934). The first-named author worked up the specimens occurring in Java, the second one adds two species to this list, whereas the latter studied materials collected in 1928 and 1929 by the German Limnological Sunda Expedition.

Description: In recent years Baehni has provided us with some elaborate studies on the Sapotaceae (1, 2) and we understand that it is his intention to continue the series of generic monographs. As I pointed out in a criticism (8) concerning the first of his papers, this seemed not a very successful beginning, be it only because one usually does not start a series of generic monographs by giving a survey of the whole family with the nature of a conclusion, without risking the judgment of prematurity. As might have been expected this paper contains a number of incorrectnesses, which may largely be ascribed to an insufficient knowledge of this intricate and difficult family.

Description: Dr. P. Wagenaar Hummelinck entrusted me with the study of 20 adult specimens of a new species of Cyathura which he collected in fresh-water springs of the limestone-region in Curaçao. These localities are described in the 1st and the 4th paper of this series.

Description: 1. Vorbemerkungen. Lange Zeit kannte man nur eine Art dieser interessanten Gattung aus dem Obereocän der Insel Java, nämlich Buccinulum jogjacartense (Martin) [Martin, 1914, S. 142]. Vor kurzem beschrieb dann Oostingh eine zweite javanische Art, nun aus dem Pliocän von Süd-Bantam (1939, S. 117). Inzwischen hatten aber Wanner und Hahn (1935, S. 250) zwei Arten dieser in der rezenten indopacifischen Fauna nicht vertretenen Gattung als eine Art beschrieben und sie ausserdem unter die Gattung Siphonalia eingereiht. Dank der Freundlichkeit von Herrn Prof. Wanner erhielt ich die Originale dieser Arten zwecks weiterer Untersuchung und konnte dabei feststellen, dass die Beschreibung, welche seinerzeit zwei Arten unter einer einzigen zusammenfasste, nicht zutreffend war. Ferner liegen mir noch mehr Arten vor aus dem Miocän der Insel Sumatra und Borneo, die in holländischen Sammlungen (generisch unbestimmt) vorhanden waren; nach eingehender Prüfung liessen sich weitere Arten darunter nicht nachweisen, sodass die Resultate sich in vorliegender Mitteilung zusammenfassen lassen.

Description: As early as 1863 Sorby proved that pitted pebbles are the result of solution at the points of mutual contact in a conglomerate. As cause he suggested solution under pressure in saturated, stagnant groundwater by what has afterwards been designated Riecke’s principle. By the examination of polished cuts through a pitted conglomerate I found confirmation of this hypothesis. The alternate explanation by Daubrée, Kumm and others of solution in water held by capillarity at the points of contact could not cause the observed shapes of the pits. The experiments they used to disprove Sorby’s view are fundamentally incorrect. They attempted to form pits by a solvent liquid, instead of using pressure and saturated water. Groningen, November 1942.

Description: This paper contains the results of the study of the fish-collection, made by P. Wagenaar Hummelinck, on the islands of the Leeward Group and some parts of the adjacent South-American continent, in 1936—’37 and in 1930. The latter have already been studied by Miss M. Sanders (1936) and are only included for completeness’ sake. The material has been presented to the Zoological Museum of Amsterdam.

Description: 1) Examining the Semper-collection of mollusca from the Philippines kept in the Leyden Geological Museum, I met with some generic undetermined specimens of a representative of the genus Atopodonta (from Tertiary strata only rarely recorded), all belonging to one and the same species, which appeared never to have been described before. This genus 1) is known from the Eocene of the Paris basin represented by two species, viz. the typespecies Atopodonta conformis (Deshayes), 1860 [Deshayes,. Anim. s. vert., I, p. 419, plate 28, fig. 14—16 (“Venus”); Cossmann, Catal. ill., I, 1886, p. (98— 100) 99, plate 6, fig. 3—6 (excl. plate 8, fig. 3—4)] and A. tapina Cossmann, 1886 (l.c., p. 100, plate 6, fig. 7—9). These are the only European species. In 1941 I was in a position to describe the first Neogene representative that is known, strange enough this time from the Younger Miocene of Eastern Borneo; and only some time ago I recognized a second species in a collection of mollusca from the Older Miocene Rembang-beds of Java. To these scarce data the shells of the Semper-collection form a welcome addition.

Description: Part I of this monograph has been published in volume 10 of this Journal, pp. 241—320, 1938. Preparing this second part I met with the help and assistance from many persons and institutes again, for which I express my most cordial thanks here. The figures illustrating this paper have been drawn once more by Mr. L. P. Pouderoyen, while the „Zoologisch Insulinde Fonds” supplied the cost of these illustrations.

Description: Bei unserer Untersuchung der Geologie des Turiner Beckens veranlasste uns die dort aufgefundene Tertiärsedimentation uns mit dieser faszinierenden Erscheinung näher zu beschäftigen. Schon früher haben sich eine Reihe von Forschern mit diesem Problem auseinandergesetzt, und man muss annehmen, dass die Einteilung der verschiedenen Schichtungsarten — sedimentäre Phänomene von höchster Bedeutung — am besten genetisch zu erfolgen hat, wie u. a. Kumm (20) und Brinkmann (7) es getan haben. Dazu zwingen uns auch die geologischen Verhältnisse, auf die wir an erster Stelle mit einigen Bemerkungen über das Tertiär der Turiner Berge eingehen wollen. Wir können hier nur kurz die wichtigsten Daten und Ansichten über die Entstehungsweise bestimmter Schichtenfolgen zur Sprache bringen; für nähere Einzelheiten der hier benutzten geologischen Belege verweisen wir auf eine ausführliche Arbeit über das Turiner Tertiär: Beets (5). Mit verschiedenen Autoren verstehen wir unter Schichtung den vertikalen Material-und (oder) Texturwechsel innerhalb einer Gesteinsserie, welcher sowohl in beschränkter wie auch mehr ausgebreiteter horizontaler Richtung ungefähr gleichzeitig stattfindet (cf. auch Kumm, 20, S. 199). Brinkmann (7) gibt eine ausgezeichnete Uebersicht der verschiedenen Schichtungsarten, die man bisher beobachtet hat, und ihrer möglichen Erklärungen; so auch Dacqué (9): eine allgemeine Uebersicht. Wir wollen dann besonders jene komplexe Schichtung, die von Stamp (26) besprochen wurde, und die hier u. a. in Abb. 2b dargestellt ist, näher behandeln. Von dieser Art komplexer Schichtung bestehen manche Varianten, die zwar zuweilen als prinzipiell abweichende Typen dargestellt werden, aber u. E. die gleiche Entstehungsursache haben und nur graduell verschiedenen Genesen zugrunde liegen: Abb. 2 a—c und Abb. 4 a—b.

Description: Crystals of the notched or grooved type are known from some minerals which crystallise in the cubic system. From diamond grooved octahedrons are known, whose grooves remind us of octahedral faces, or the faces of triakis octahedra or hexakis ostahedra. From haüynite too grooved octahedrons are pictured, whose grooves are bordered by octahedral faces. Grooved analcite is known in icositetrahedrons, the grooves are bordered by faces of the same icositetrahedron.

Description: This paper contains the diagnoses in Latin of a new genus, new sections of some genera, several new species and a number of new varieties which will be dealt with by the author in English in a publication entitled: “A monograph of the genus Protium and some allied genera (Burseraceae)”, to be published in Rec. Trav. bot. néerl. XXXIX, p. 211 (1942) and in Meded. bot. Mus. en Herb. Utrecht 90 (1942). Protium BURM.f. sectio Eu-Protium SWART n. sect.

Description: In the year 1930 Mr P. WAGENAAR HUMMELINCK, Utrecht, made a trip to the Netherlands West Indian Islands of Curaçao, Bonaire and Aruba with the intention of collecting zoological objects and of gathering data of zoogeographical interest (see lit. 8). In the years 1936—37 he again collected in these islands and, moreover, visited the islands of Margarita and Los Testigos off the coast of Venezuela, the Venezuelan peninsula Paraguaná and the Colombian peninsula La Goajira. To get a better impression of ecological circumstances in pools and puddles of which a zoological inventory was made, he also gathered Algae and floating and submerged Phanerogams occurring in the collecting stations. On the collector’s request the present author made a study of the aquatic Phanerogams, which gave rise to some critical notes. As, moreover, several new localities were discovered and a series of ecological particulars were given by the collector, a complete enumeration of the collected specimens may follow. The specimens were preserved in small collecting bottles in alcohol and in formaline and are now inserted both in the Rijksherbarium at Leiden and in the University Herbarium at Utrecht.

Description: The post-Glacial history of the forests in the Netherlands has been reconstructed fairly well by pollen analysis of several bogs. At the same time stratigraphical investigations shed some light on the way in which these bogs had been built up, i.e. on the plants by which, in the various forest periods, peat was formed. Though these data are quite interesting, they do not give a good impression of the entire synchronal herbaceous flora, as they are limited to the peatbuilding plants. As yet very little is known of the rest of the vegetation (water-, marsh- and land-plants) of the late-Pleistocene and Holocene periods. We must look for their remains in other deposits, particularly in clay and sand, wherein however few land plants will be found, as their chance of preservation is very small. The best strata for an investigation of this kind he, as a rule, beneath the groundwater level, and this is a great handicap for collecting samples. Deep pits have been dug lately by the “Rijkswaterstaat” (Government office for the maintenance of dikes and canals) and as they are kept dry by intensive pumping, they are very useful for our purpose. The construction of a lock near Wijk bij Duurstede, province of Utrecht, gave us an opportunity for studying a profile extending from 4.70 m —NAP (i.e. 4.70 m below Ordnance Datum of Amsterdam) to 3.75 m + NAP (i.e. 3.75 m above O.D.). From this ± 8.5 m high profile, a complete set of samples was taken for pollen analysis, and larger quantities for macroscopical investigation. A special word of thanks is due to the technical staff of the “Rijkswaterstaat” for their kind assistance at the field work. Wijk bij Duurstede is situated in the Rhine delta, where the “Kromme Rijn”, now but a backwater of a formerly important river arm of the Rhine, branches off to the NW (see map, fig. 1). The youngest sediments consist of river clay, deposited in the broad valley of the Rhine, measuring here ± 25 km in width. About 6 km to the NE the Utrecht hill range, a push moraine dating from the Riss glacial epoch, rises up.

Description: La tourbière au Sud de Veenendaal, dans la Vallée Gueldroise, ayant environ la forme d’une haltère, a son origine dans une nappe d’eau eutrophe, déja présente lors de la première phase du tardiglaciaire. Dans les commencements s’y forma un sédiment (sable humeux), qui se composait, outre de restes végétaux, de sable apporté par le vent. Il est impossible qu’un bras du Rhin ait coulé là en ces temps. La tourbe se compose de matières successivement eutrophes et mésotrophes. Une grande partie du profil (depuis le début de l’Atlanticum), est composée de tourbe de marais boisé (Broekveen). Dans les sondages les plus méridionaux on trouve de l’argile dans les couches supérieures (provenant probablement d’inondations venant du côté du Rhin). A mesure qu’on s’approche du Sud, l’argile occupe une place de plus en plus importante dans le profil. Il n’est trace de matières oligotrophes (tourbe de Sphagnum), ni même dans le sondage VK (Veenkampen), où cependant la carte géologique mentionne une couche d’argile recouvrant la haute tourbière. La tourbe oligotrophe a sans doute été complètement enlevée par une extraction commencée dès le moyen-âge. Il apert que l’histoire des forêts que l’on peut constater dans la tourbe, depuis la première phase du tardiglaciaire jusqu’à la fin de l’Atlanticum (première apparition de Fagus), est conforme aux résultats acquis pour des tourbières environnantes de cette même époque, par d’autres investigateurs. Seulement un maximum prononcé de Corylus manque dans notre tourbière. Les couches supérieures de la tourbière ne présentent pas de spectres polliniques récents, mais les spectres qu’on y trouve ferment un ensemble harmonieux avec ceux des couches plus profondes. Nous avons constaté que la couche de mousse vivante, dans le Bennekommer Meent offre un spectre pollinique qui représente assez bien la végétation forestière actuelle. Nous avons décrit un sondage dans une petite tourbière isolée a l’Est du Emmikhuizerberg, qui offre entièrement un caractère tardiglaciaire. Au cas où l’examen de GL et de AH III et éventuellement d’autres sondages (encore en projet), nous ouvriraient de nouveaux horizons, nous donnerons en temps et lieu des informations a ce sujet. Nous avons accompli cette étude au Musée et Herbier Botanique d’Utrecht (Directeur M. le Professeur A. A. PULLE). Je tiens a remercier ici M. F. FLORSCHÜTZ pour ses précieux conseils et pour la manière enthousiaste avec laquelle il a bien voulu guider ce travail. En même temps je veux exprimer ma gratitude affectueuse envers Mlle A. M. J. VAN BERESTEYN pour la traduction dont elle s’est chargée.

Description: All botanists acquainted with the family Rubiaceae will agree that the present subdivision is far from satisfactory and that more than one of its tribes are either artificial or ill-defined or both. The genera dealt with in this paper are said to belong to the Mussaendeae, but the distinction between this tribe and the Hedyotideae as defined by BENTHAM and Hooker f. (Oldenlandieae K. SCh.) rests merely on the succulence or non-succulence of the fruit and must therefore be regarded as both artificial and ill-defined: artificial, because from a morphological point of view the difference between dry and fleshy fruits is certainly not more important than that between the capsular and schizococcous fruits brought together in the first group and not more weighty than that between the various kinds of berries and drupes referred to the second; ill-defined, because the baccate fruits are sometimes dehiscent and the schizococcous ones more or less fleshy. The absence of a sharp line of demarcation separating the dry from the fleshy fruits doubtless explains the fact that the distinction has never been rigorously applied: Mussaenda L., the standard genus of the tribe with fleshy fruits, at present comprises several species provided with capsules, and plants with drupaceous fruits, by BLUME rightly referred to a genus of their own, Metabolos, have been included by BENTHAM and Hooker f. in Hedyotis L. and by K. SCHUMANN in Oldenlandia L. RIDLEY’S genus Pomazota was referred to the Hedyotideae, because the fruit, though soft and succulent, opens at last, but it is, as I will show elsewhere, identical with Coptophyllum KORTH. non GARDN., which on account of its baccate fruit was put in the Mussaendeae. Other examples might be adduced, but these will suffice to show that the distinction is a source of confusion and should be given up as soon as possible.

Description: Lorsque, il y a une année à peu près, ma collaboratrice Mlle Joséphine Koster vint me trouver en suggérant l’idée d’éditer un volume dédié au jubilé de votre quatre-vingt-dixième anniversaire, j’acceptai sans hésitation. Cette idée m’était en effet d’autant plus sympathique que j’avais cherché depuis longtemps une occasion pour vous exprimer en public notre admiration tant pour votre personne que pour votre oeuvre. Si nous ne nous étions pas trouvés dans un temps où les contacts internationaux sont interrompus, si précieux et si indispensables pour nous autres, travailleurs scientifiques, il aurait été certainement possible d’organiser une collaboration de plusieurs pays d’outre mer. Car nous savons que vos nombreux amis auraient été heureux de pouvoir contribuer à cet humble témoignage de notre amitié et de notre vénération. Ils sont nombreux en effet, vos amis, et parmi eux se trouvent les coryfées de votre science, l’algologie. Hélas cette grande guerre, qui s’étend sur tout notre monde et qui a temporairement rompu tant de liens, nous a forcé de limiter nos invitations à quelques représentants de votre science, vivant dans notre petit continent. Ils se sont déclarés heureux de pouvoir offrir des articles en votre honneur, articles que vous trouverez publiés dans ce petit volume, supplément de notre journal “Blumea”.

Description: Le matériel étudié dans ce travail a été récolté par le R.P. Foreau S.J., aux environs de Shembaganur, dans les Palni Hills, entre 5200 et 6500 pieds, au cours des années 1929 et 1930. Je donnerai d’abord la liste de toutes les espèces que j’ai pu observer dans ce matériel, puis quelques détails sur celles qui peuvent présenter un intérêt particulier.

Description: Les Chlorophycées du golfe de Gascogne sont encore peu connues. Elles n’ont fait l’objet que d’une courte énumération de C. Sauvageau dans son travail ”sur les Algues marines du golfe de Gascogne“. J’ai repris cette étude au cours d’un séjour à Saint-Jean-de-Luz et à Biarritz, pendant le printemps de 1940. J’ai récolté les espèces suivantes: 1. Prasiola stipitata Suhr — Se rencontre dans le port de Saint-Jean-de-Luz au niveau de l’ E. marginata. Il est de petite taille, ne dépassant guère 1 cm de hauteur. Il se présente parfois sous la forme ordinaire, élargie en lame au-dessus d’un stipe uniforme; mais, plus souvent, il forme une simple languette, étroite et contournée, à aspect d’ Entéromorphe et rappelle alors le Prasiola calophylla.

Description: En examinant en 1939 dans une note présentée à l’Académie des Sciences de Belgique une étude de M. Ronse, nous avons été amené à reprendre des considérations sur les mucilages des végétaux et en particulier sur ceux des algues (22; 31). Déjà en 1891, dans nos ”Observations algologiques“ nous avons examiné la nature et la structure des parois cellulaires de certaines algues et fait remarquer que la gaine mucilagineuse de Conjuguées, étudiée par divers auteurs était loin de présenter sur toute la surface d’un filament la même épaisseur. Des Spirogyra, par exemple, suivant des parties du filament, montraient une gaine nette et épaisse, ou à peine indiquée.

Description: The genus Galaxaura can in several respects be classed among the most remarkable Florideae. It is not only — with Chantransia — the genus richest in forms of all the genera belonging to the order of Nemalionales, which has more than 70 described species, it also offers, both in its interior and its exterior organization, such a high differentiation, and a tissue specialization going so far, that, as the monographer of the genus, the late Professor F.R. Kjellman (1900), said: ”it may be difficult even in the great province of the Florideae to find forms with a higher or even as high a division of labour in the tissues of the shoot...“. Even if the number of species may actually diminish with further investigations, this is in a way connected with a peculiarity of organization, characteristic of the genus Galaxaura, namely that the sexual plant of a species has quite another anatomical structure of the cortical tissue than does the tetrasporic plant. This remarkable discovery was made by Howe (1917, 1918), who had had the opportunity of studying some species of Galaxaura in the West Indies, in their natural localities. This fact was not known of any Floridea at the time Kjellman wrote his monograph on this genus in 1900. Moreover, Kjellman had a quite different conception of the position of the tetraspores during the course of development of the Florideae than the one we have nowadays formed from the results of the cytological research. To Kjellman the tetraspores or, as he called them, the ”tetragonidia“, were a kind of propagation organ with the character of ”Nebenfruktifikation“, and thus not, as we must now regard them, the reproduction bodies of the diploid generation ending the diplophase in the alternation of generations. Thus, when Kjellman in his herbarial studies found forms of Galaxaura with otherwise similar organization but with quite a different cortical anatomy, it was quite natural that he described them as new species. One of the tasks of future taxonomical research will therefore be to combine such ”species“ of Kjellman as, in reality, are only the sexual and the tetrasporic generation of one and the same species. Naturally, this problem can only be solved by a botanist who has the opportunity of studying the development of the Galaxaurae in their native localities. Finally, only cultures will be really decisive. However, the number of species of Galaxaura will certainly be reduced.

Description: Among the plants collected in the West-Indies by I. Boldingh during the years 1909 and 1910 there was a grass determined as Paspalum hemisphericum Poir., a name changed into glabrum. These determinations are incorrect because Paspalum hemisphericum Poiret is the same as the wellknown Paspalum paniculatum L. and also quite different from Poiret’s Paspalum glabrum, which, according to Mrs. A. Chase’s investigations, is the Paspalum laxum of Lamarck. Among Bolding’s plants there is a good specimen from the island of Bonaire, which, studied with Chase’s work on the North-American species of Paspalum, could not be identified. In Chase’s work also the species of Central-America and the West-Indian Islands are taken up, moreover the latter are also treated in Hitchcock’s posthumous work on the grasses of that region.

Description: In working up the materials of the genera Anaphalis, Gnaphalium and Blumea for Backer’s “Flora van Java” some new species, varieties and forms have come to light. The results of this work can by far not be considered to be complete, as the great lot of specimens collected in Java belonging to the genera under consideration are preserved in the “Herbarium van’s Lands Plantentuin te Buitenzorg”. Owing to the war these specimens were not available as yet. However, it may be useful to publish the novelties hitherto discovered.

Description: In 1938, Verdam published an account of the then-known Charophyta of the Netherlands in the English language (cf. this journal, vol. 3), and one year later (1939) another in our own language in “Nederlandsch Kruidkundig Archief”. In both papers reference was made to only five Netherlands’ publications on the same subject, the oldest of which is dating from 1846. In studying i.a. the history of the Malaysian Charophyta (Zaneveld, 1940) I found that much more was published on the Charophyta of our Low Countries. As will be seen below, it became evident that the first printed record of a Netherlands’ Charophyte dates as far back as 1636. It seems worth while to publish these notes on the history of the identification of our Charophyta as, moreover, a number of additional facts have become known. The data of the present review have been taken from the following sources (chronologically arranged): 1. herbals ; 2. catalogues of Botanic Gardens; 3. local floras; 4. general floras and taxonomic textbooks; 5. monographs.

Description: Korthalsella Dacrydii (RIDLEY) DANSER, the only species of its genus that is parasitic on Conifers, was, up to the present, only known from two mountains, viz., Mt. Tahan in the Malay Peninsula, and Mt. Gede in Java. For the latter mountain it was, for the first time, not discovered in the living state, but, by Dr VAN STEENIS, on herbarium specimens of Podocarpus imbricata, collected by KOORDERS and VAN DER HOEVEN in 1890. Later it was collected several times on Mt. Gede in the living state. While examining the materials of Podocarpus and Dacrydium of the Leiden, Buitenzorg, and Groningen Herbaria, I was so fortunate as to discover, in the same way as Dr VAN STEENIS did, several new localities of Korthalsella Dacrydii, and these not only in Java, but also in Sumatra, Borneo, and Timor. The localities now known are the following.

Description: On preparing the manuscript of the Verbenaceae for Dr C. A. Backer’s ”Flora van Java” it appeared to me that — in comparison with the monographic treatments of this family by Lam (5) and by Lam & Bakhuizen van den Brink (6) — several changes in the nomenclature and in the interpretation or delimitation of certain species are urgent. Although, considered in the light of more recent work on this family as it occurs in adjacent regions (2, 3, 8), a new critical revision of the Malaysian Verbenaceae seems desirable, we have to refrain from such a task, which would require a greater deal of investigation than the present author is able to afford at the time. Hence these notes are merely intended to account for the discrepancies between the treatment of the javanese species as they will appear in the afore-mentioned flora and as they are given in the recent monographs (5, 6). Still, they may prove to be a first contribution towards another revision covering the whole of Malaysia.

Description: The genera Mina and Lepistemon belong to the Ipomoeeae Hall, f., Stictocardia and Argyreia to the Argyreieae Hall. f.

Description: The plates I—XI contain illustrations of all the skulls and horn-cores of Bovidae from the Quaternary of the Netherlands, brought together in the National Museum of Geology at Leyden, Holland. They were all photographed with the occiputs vertical or what is thought to be vertical. They are described in the same order as figured. On the plates I—V are represented the skulls and horn-cores of the domesticated cows. Four races are distinguished among them: the brachyceros-race (fig. 1—25), the frontosus-race (fig. 26), the primigenius-race (fig. 27—41) and the trochoceros-race (fig. 42—46). The brachyceros-skulls and horn-cores have the following characteristics: a sharp angle (30°—50°) between the plane of curvature of the horn-cores and the horizontal plane, cores that are curved in one plane, a sharp angle (about 70°) between os frontale and os occipitale, a small breadth of the os frontale (table 1, measurement 2: 137—145 mm), a small index 6 (table 1), small measurements 10, 15 and 16 (table 1), a large breadth to length-index of the os frontale (table 1, measurement 13), a small difference between the length (table 1, measurement 27) and the basal circumference of the horncores (table 1, measurement 26). Examples of typical representatives of brachyceros-cows are given by the figures 3, 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 21 and 22. The skulls and cores of the figures 2, 4, 7, 15 and 24 show some affinity to the primigenius-race and those of the figures 1, 5, 10, 16, 17, 18 and 23 to the trochoceros-race. The basal parts of the cores of figure 26 are strongly curved backwards and the plane of curvature nearly coincides with the frontal plane. As the points of the horn-cores are missing, the determination is somewhat uncertain. It is, however, not impossible, that this skull belonged to a frontosus-cow. The skulls and horn-cores, which I believe that belong to the primigenius-race, have the following characteristics: the cores are (when the occiput is placed in the vertical plane) directed strongly upwards and are not curved in one plane; the min. breadth of the os frontale (table 3, measurement 2), the length of the forehead (table 3, measurement 10) and the breadth of the occiput (table 3, measurements 15 and 16) are larger than those of the brachy-ceros-cows; there is a large difference between the length of the cores (table 3, measurement 27) and their basal circumference (table 3, measurement 26). Examples of typical representatives of the primigenius-race are given by the figures 27, 28, 31, 33 and 34. The horn-core of figure 29 probably belonged to a young Bos primigenius. The skulls and cores of figures 30, 32 and 35 show some affinity to the brachyceros-race. The skulls and horn-cores of plate V are believed to be representatives of the trochoceros-race. They are characterized by an angle of 10°—20° between the plane of curvature and the horizontal plane, a curvature of the cores in one plane, a backward curving of the basal parts of the cores, a longer breadth to length-index of the os frontale (table 4, measurement 2), a length of the forehead (table 4, measurement 10) and a breadth of the occiput (table 4, measurement 15 and 16) which are larger than those of the brachyceros-race. On the plates VI—VIII are presented the skulls and horn-cores of Bos primigenius. Comparing the measurements (see table 5) with those of males and females, as given by Adametz, it is clear, that the skulls and cores of figures 47, 48, 49, 50 and 53 belonged to males and that of figure 51 to a female. Skulls and horn-cores of Bison priscus are presented on the plates IX—XI. Among them are distinguished two different races, Bison priscus longicornis Grom. (plate IX, plate X, fig. 62, 65, 66, 67 and plate XI) and Bison priscus deminutus Grom. (fig. 63—64). The first is characterized by a large and narrow skull with long and slender cores and with a breadth to length-index of the os frontale (table 6, measurement 13) of 133—147. A comparison with the measurements as given by Gromova makes it probable, that only the skulls of figures 60 and 63 are females whereas all the others belonged to males. Bison priscus deminutus (fig. 63 and 64) is characterized by a moderately sized skull with massive cores and with a breadth to lengthindex of the os frontale (table 6, measurement 13) of 124. The min. breadth of the os frontale (table 6, measurement 2) is only 267—286 mm. There is, however, some difference between the skull of figure 63 and the skull of figure 64. The first mentioned has a convex forehead with regular transitions in the cores; the cores are only feebly curved. This skull is supposed to have belonged to a female animal. The skull of figure 64 has a flat forehead sharply separated from the cores; the cores are much more curved. This skull probably belonged to a male bison. Table 7 gives a review of the stratigrapbical distribution of the Bovidae, here described. The specimens of Bison priscus from Bokhoven (fig. 61), Brummen (fig. 74) and Drempt (fig. 64) certainly belong to Würm Glacial and the others probably also. The specimens of Bos primigenius may be devided into three groups. Enterbroek (fig. 48) and Ammerozden (fig. 49) belong to the Würm Glacial. Lutterzijl (fig. 47), Nieuwe Merwede (fig. 50) and Terschelling (fig. 51) belong either to the Würm Glacial or to the Holocene. The others are holocene. Of these the specimen from Veghel, 2 m (fig. 54) belongs to the Boreal and those from the Mease-tunnel (fig. 52, 55, 56 and 58) and Dinther (fig. 53) to the Subboreal. The normalisation-works of the river Aa, Northern Brabant, have furnished some important data as to the stratigraphical distribution of Bos taurus. The oldest specimen, Veghel, 2½ m — (fig. 23), has been dated by pollen analysis as belonging to the upper part of the Würm Glacial, the so-called Lateglacial. However, it is not probable, that this horn-core is derived from a domesticated animal. The oldest occurrence of domesticated brachyceros-oxen are contemporaneous with the Kjökkenmöddinger culture (5000—4000 b. C.). The horn-core of Veghel, on the other hand, is of the same age as the late palaeolithic culture (before 8000 b. C.). Therefore it is much more probable, that the core belonged to a wild ox, namely Bos (Brachyceros) europaeus Adametz. By several investigators (Adametz, Antonius) this species is considered to be the wild ancestor of the domesticated brachyceros-oxen. The specimen from Veghel renders this theory more probable than the view advocated by Nehring, Duerst and Hilzheimer, who suppose, that all the races of Bos taurus, the brachycerosrace included, descended from Bos primigenius Boj. The first undoubted tame cows from the river-basin of the Aa are dated by pollen analysis as belonging to the transition from Boreal to Atlanticum. This is the beginning of the late mesolithic Kjökkenmödinger culture. The still persisting flint-industry (microliths) is associated with the first pottery. It is the time of beginning agriculture. As demonstrated by the finding of remains of Cervus elaphus L. and Bos primigenius Boj., the deer and the aurochs were formed the chief hunting quarry. In Subboreal time this district was inhabited by the so-called „urnpeople”, by who not only the brachycerosbut also the more robust primigeniusand trochoceros-cows were breeded. The district of the larger rivers is characterized by the absence of Bos taurus brachyceros, the probable presence of Bos taurus frontosus, during the Subboreal, and the presence of Bos taurus primigenius during the Boreal and Subboreal. The absence of the brachyceros-cow is probably imputable to a hiatus in the collections of the Museum at Leyden. Contrary to Bos taurus brachyceros, Bos taurus primigenius is generally considered to be a direct descendant of Bos primigenius. It is however not yet known at what time the first aurochses were domesticated. Without doubt the skull from Wijk-bij-Duurstede (fig. 27) belonged to an animal, that lived at the beginning of domestication. The frontosus-ox is not found among the fauna of the Swiss lake dwellings. However it is described by Degerbøl from the Subboreal of Denmark (Bundsø). Therefore it is probable, that the „urn-people” living along the large rivers had a different origin to the people dwelling in the sandy regions of Brabant.

Description: 1. Es sind bisher über die merkwürdige rezente marine Gastropoden-Gruppe Thatcheria Angas, 1877 sehr wenige Gegebenheiten bekannt, vergleichende Untersuchungen mit fossilen Arten fehlen (fast) vollkommen und auch die Frage ihrer systematischen Stellung ist nie in befriedigender Weise gelöst worden. Auf Grund vergleichender Forschungen bei der Bestimmung gewisser fossiler, systematisch schwieriger, doch morphologisch einfacher ostindischer Arten glaube ich diese Frage endlich — jedenfalls zum grössten Teil — lösen zu können, dank auch der von N.B. Eales ausgeführten anatomischen Untersuchung der einzigen lebenden Art dieser „Gattung”. Angas beschrieb 1877 eine Schale der hiesigen Art, Thatcheria mirabilis von Japan; er betrachtete sie vorläufig als Glied der Fusinae. Seither ist unsere Kenntnis von Thatcheria so gut wie nicht erweitert worden (bis 1938): Tryon (Man. of Conchology, 3, 1881, S. 98, 112; Struct. a. system. Conchology, 2, 1883, S. 135), der den Typus gesehen hatte, betrachtete ihn als eine unzweifelhaft scalaroide Monstruosität, nahe verwandt mit Hemifusus [„Semifusus”] Swainson, 1840 (= Cochlidium Gray, 1850); Fischer (Manuel de Conchyl., S. 623) erwähnte kurz Tryon’s Meinung, rechnete Thatcheria also ebenfalls zu den Melongenidae. Auch Cossmann hat sich seit 1889 der Meinung Tryon’s angeschlossen (cf. Cossmann, Essais de pal., 4, 1901, S. 62, 93—94). Dann wird diese Gattung nochmals erwähnt im Jahre 1919, bloss als Merkwürdigkeit, “a monstrosity of Fusus”, der Sammlung De Burgh (Journal of Conchology, Bd. 16, 1919, S. 66). 1934 bildete Yokoyama (On Cochlioconus, S. 406) nochmals Tryon’s Figur des Genotypus ab, dabei seine fossile Gattung Cochlioconus Yokoyama, 1928 richtigerweise als Synonym von Thatcheria (nach Yokoyama neben Conus zu stellen) anführend, übrigens auf Anregung von Pilsbry. In demselben Jahr gab Hirase (Coll. of japanese shells, S. 104, Taf. 128 B, Fig. 3) eine mässig gelungene, doch noch ausreichend deutliche Abbildung eines 94 mm langen Vertreters von Th. mirabilis und 1937 wird in einer Versammlung der “Malacological Society London”, wo von Le B. Tomlin eine Schale dieser Art gezeigt wurde, entschlossen, dass sie eher einen Pleurotomiden- oder Opisthobranchier-Vertreter (“allied to Akera”) darstellen könnte (vgl. Proc. Mal. Soc. London, Bd. 22, Lief. 4, S. 158). Schliesslich lenkt Eales (On affinities of Thatcheria, 1938), hauptsächlich aus anatomischen Gründen, die Aufmerksamkeit darauf, dass diese Gattung wohl den Turridae (= Pleurotomidae) angehören wird.

Description: Dr. P. Wagenaar Hummelinck entrusted me with the study of the snakes, which he collected during his trips to the islands off the north coast of Venezuela, to the Venezuelan mainland, and to eastern Colombia. In the present paper the species collected by Dr. Hummelinck are listed with data on scale counts, coloration and with notes on nomenclature. In a few cases specimens from other collections were used for comparison, and for these the provenance is indicated in the lists of specimens. Dr. Hummelinck made notes on the names given to the different species of snakes by the inhabitants, and by his kind permission these notes are included in the present paper. These local names form an addition to those published by Roca (1932, pp. 387—388). Unless otherwise stated the specimens are in the collections of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden. The numbers cited for the different specimens, Oph. 1—60, are the numbers used by the collector; they are mentioned in parentheses, the first of each list of specimens with the indication Oph., the following without this indication.

Description: Although the islands of Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire have received the attention of many naturalists, from the beginning of the West-Indian trade until to-day, it was not before 1924 that a suitable publication on the “Land and Freshwater Molluscs of the Dutch Leeward Islands” was written by Horace Burrington Baker. I should like to express my appreciation of this work, which not only facilitated my studies, but, at the same time, forced me to collect the landshells of these islands in a most intensive and systematical way, — because I should not have been competent to critisize his results, if I had not had a material of at least the same value at my disposal. As Baker very precisely localized his stations, I could collect a large series of topotypes of nearly all his new species and subspecies. This, in addition to his reproductions of the holotypes and paratypes, and the comparison of some of his paratypes in the Zoological Museum of Amsterdam, made a study of Baker’s collection rather unnecessary.

Description: L’histoire géologique de Monferrato est marquée par une série de transgressions et de régressions de la mer, qui se manifestent généralement d’une manière très distincte dans la partie orientale de ces collines. Nous avons résumé cette histoire schématiquement dans la fig. 3 1). Dans les règles qui suivent nous décrirons à grands traits le développement de la partie orientale du bassin de Monferrato à partir du Jurassique jusqu’à la fin du Pliocène. Pendant le Jurassique et le Crétacé un grand bassin assez profond (mais certainement pas abyssal) s’étendait des Alpes occidentales (schistes lustrés) jusqu’au SE de Bologna. Ce bassin était entouré de terre ayant peu ou point de relief, de sorte qu’il y avait peu de transport de matériaux terrigènes. Des dépôts argileux se formaient. A la fin du Crétacé une grande régression s’est manifesté (déposition de conglomérats dans les collines occidentales, voir Beets p. 224). Après cette régression le bassin de Monferrato était peu profond et plus ou moins barré. Des argiles bitumineuses et des calcaires marneux se déposaient. Au commencement de l’Eocène supérieur la régression s’est poursuivie: il s’est formé un sédiment de marnes friables alternant avec des couches sableuses, parfois même caillouteuses. A la fin de l’Eocène un plissement s’est manifesté. Les „noyaux” éocènes de Casale et de Brusaschetto se sont formés. L’Oligocène a commencé par une transgression, pendant laquelle il y avait des côtes ou bien des hauts-fonds dans le sud et dans le NE de la région. La quantité de matériel caillouteux amené par les rivières des régions récemment soulevées (Alpes occidentales, Apennins septentrionaux) était grande et a donné naissance aux zones conglomératiques. A la fin du Rupélien le relief des régions soulevées avait beaucoup diminué, de sorte qu’il y avait peu de transport pendant le Chattien („Oligocène supérieur” de Beets). Le bassin chattien était d’ailleurs beaucoup moins étendu que le bassin tongrien-rupélien. Pendant l’Aquitanien la zone côtière (ou le haut-fond) dans le nord du bassin a subsisté, tandis que la ligne des côtes méridionale s’est déplacé plus au nord que pendant le Tongrien-Rupélien. Le matériel transporté était plus gros et plus abondant que pendant le Chattien, de sorte qu’il faut admettre un léger soulèvement des régions entourantes au commencement de l’Aquitanien. Pendant le Langhien le relief de ces régions avait diminué de nouveau. La quantité de matériel transporté dans le bassin était donc assez réduite. Il y avait des circonstances favorables à la formation de dépôts calcaires. La mer s’était retirée plus vers l’ouest, de sorte que toute la partie orientale des collines de Moncalvo-Casale n’était plus submergée. Après le Langhien la grande transgression helvétienne a commencé; le matériel transporté dans le bassin est devenu plus abondant et plus gros. La paléogéographie du bassin s’est changée un peu: à l’ouest de Moncalvo la ligne des côtes (dans ce cas: ligne de profondeur égale) ne s’étendait plus en direction ouest. Pendant le Tortonien et le Messinien les mouvements orogéniques, presque continus pendant tout le Tertiaire, se sont manifestés dans un plissement plus marqué, qui a produit un renversement de relief. Pendant le Messinien la régression, qui avait commencé dès la fin de l’Helvétien a atteint son extension maximale. Des lentilles de gypse se sont formées, les coquilles de formes saumâtres prévalent. Enfin la grande transgression pliocène a submergé le bassin de Monferrato pour la dernière fois. Un faible plissement, suivi par le soulèvement définitif de la région entière au-dessus du niveau de la mer termine l’histoire tertiaire du bassin de Piémonte.

Description: In the following pages data will be given about the size of the megalospheric embryonic apparatus, and of the size of the shell, of some Foraminifera. By comparing these data for a certain species from different samples, the relative ages of which are known, it will be possible, to get an insight into the alterations of the measured characters in geological times. For that purpose samples from geological sections, or otherwise well defined geological formations, were used. A description of each of these sections will be given, in order to discuss the reliability of the determinations of the relative ages of the samples. I may point out here, that as the layers containing the foraminiferal shells have a certain thickness, and as the sampling has been done over the whole width of the outcropping layer, or over part of it, we may be certain, that the deposition of these shells, must have taken “many years”. In my opinion this may be an advantage, as the possible annual or short-periode influence of the environment on the phaenotype may thus have been eliminated.

Description: Part III of this monograph (by Dr. F. A. Schilder) was published in volume 12 of this Journal, pp. 171—194, 1941. The fourth part deals with the families which can be summarised as Tonnacea (= Doliacea Thiele). They contain 31 species, two of which are new to science. The manuscript was already completed in the summer of 1940, but there was no earlier occasion for publication.

Description: In 1933 and 1935 K. Martin described a new fauna of tertiary Mollusca from asphalt deposits of Buton 1). The collection, consisting of 35 species, shows very characteristic forms, but not a single species is known from recent, pliocene, miocene or eocene deposits. There are some affinities to miocene and recent types and as the fauna is doubtless younger than Mesozoic, Martin had good reasons to consider the fauna younger than the eocene Nanggulan beds of Java but older than the oldest known miocène fauna of the East-Indies (West-Progo beds of Java). He ascribed the Buton fossils to the Upper-Oligocene. According to Hetzel 2), however, the localities of the fossils are situated amidst the so called Sampolakosa-beds of upper-miocene or pliocene age. He tried to give an explanation of the remarkable molluscs of Buton by suggesting that the facies of the deposits might be different from any Mollusca bearing strata hitherto known in the East Indies.