1922] Fernald,—Hoffmann’s Flora of Berkshire Co. 185 
and Elatine minima) to Newfoundland; 3 (Carex albolutescens var. 
cumulata, Smilax rotundifolia and Potentilla pumila!) to the Maritime 
Provinces; 7 (Carex laxiculmis, Quercus coccinea, Polygonum tenue, 
Rubus Enslenii, Linum virginianum, Clethra alnifolia and Lycopus 
virginicus) to Maine; and 15 (Juniperus communis, Digitaria fili- 
formis, Panicum umbrosum, Carex seorsa, C. tetanica, Orontium 
aquaticum, Hypoxis hirsuta, Silene pennsylvanica, Vitis aestivalis, 
Rhododendron nudiflorum, Vaccinium stamineum, Gentiana Andrewsii, 
Cuscuta arvensis, Prenanthes Serpentaria and Solidago speciosa) to 
southeastern New Hampshire or eastern Massachusetts. 
This type of easy-going and unscholarly generalization is all too 
common, but of what value can it possibly be? Incidentally, the 
insertion of such ill-founded matter casts an unnecessary doubt upon 
the validity of otherwise admirable work. For the Flora itself is one 
upon which reliance can largely be placed. It is the result of long 
and untiring field-work and methodical organization of data, and the 
author has had the collaboration of many competent botanists. It 
is concisely and definitely presented, although one familiar with the 
literature would be gratified to know what disposition has been made 
of species heretofore recorded from Berkshire but not clearly ac- 
counted for by Hoffmann; such plants, for instance, of Chadbourne’s 
Catalogue for Williamstown as Carex vestita (vouched for by Dewey), 
Pogonia pendula (P. trianthophora), a wholly unique species which 
Chadbourne could not have mistaken and which is well known at 
modern stations close to Berkshire County (southern Windham 
Co., Vermont, western Franklin County, Massachusetts, and northern 
Litchfield County, Connecticut) or Juglans nigra, the Black Walnut, 
which others besides Chadbourne have credited to Berkshire Co. 
Students of our flora may also with good reason ask why Chad- 
bourne’s other records, which would greatly extend the local ranges, 
are ignored; stations for such distinct plants as Thalictrum anemo- 
noides (Anemonella) at Williamstown (still perfectly well known from 
just over the line in Vermont), Asclepias quadrifolia or Pentstemon 
pubescens (P. hirsutus). 
Seventeen names or combinations are published as new and the 
indexers will highly commend the author’s wisdom in giving at the 
end a special enumeration of these. Not all are likely to be taken up, 
however, for they or earlier valid names already existed. For in- 
stance, Polypodium vulgare, forma auritum (Willd.) dates back to 
Milde, Gefáss-Crypt. Schles. 632 (1858); Phalaris arundinacea, 
forma picta (L.) goes back to Aschers. & Graebn. Synop. ii. 24 (1898) 
and is antedated by the identical forma variegata (Parnell) Druce, 
Fl. Berks. 558 (1897); Aster novae-angliae, forma rosea was published 
by Britton, Proc. Nat. Sci. Assoc. Staten I. ii. Nov. 8 (1890). 
1 Represented for fourteen years in the herbarium of the New England Botanica! 
Club by characteristic and correctly identified Vermont material. 
