173 



from 140, first to 145 and now to 156, the Increase being mainly 

 in the extreme Southwest, though Florida has its share. To the 

 156 true ferns must be added 11 Ophioglossacccs and 56 other 

 fern allies, scouring-rushes, club-mosses, quill-worts, etc., making 

 the whole number of Pteridophyta here recognized, 223 species. 

 The classification and nomenclature of the ferns in the main fol- 

 low the system proposed by Mettenius, and accepted by the 

 writer of this notice. A deviation from classical botanical usage 

 is the writing of substantive specific names without a capital ini- 

 tial, as Equisetnm telmateia and Aspidiwn thelypteris. 



The first ten chapters of the book are mainly devoted to the 

 habits, structure and physiology of ferns and their allies, and con- 

 tain a good deal of interesting reading. Chapter viii, on " The 

 Fern's Place in Nature," contains an attempt to show the position 

 which ferns, etc., hold in reference to plants of higher and of 

 lower rank. The system advocated is called the " American 

 System," though it must be admitted that many American bot- 

 anists of the highest rank would not recognize it as being of 

 either value or authority. Spertnaphyta, the name which is of- 

 fered as superseding Phanerogamia, is scarcely admissible on 



grammatical grounds, \Spermophyta would barely do, but the 

 word should be Spermatophytd\, and the policy of coining new 

 names for groups already well named is not good. Pteridophyta 

 and Bryophyta have not yet been generally accepted as preferable 

 to Acrogens and Anogens ; and the other four " branches," Pro- 

 tophyta, Zygophyta, Oophyta and Carpophyta, the " American " 

 representatives of Sach's four classes, Protophyta, Zygospores, 

 Oosporece and Carposporece, are of such ill-assorted nature that 

 any conservative botanist who has looked Into the matter at all, 

 would expect them to wither away. It Is a pity to see such 

 teachings gravely set forth in text-books which are otherwise 



w-ell-planned and likely to be of use. 



Daniel C. Eaton. 



^anicwn—Synopsis of the Genus. Geo. Vasey. (Bot. Gazette, 



^^^i-, 96, 97-) 

 Phlox adsurge7is, Torr. — Sereno Watson. (Garden and Forest, 



»•, 66, fig. II,) 

 ^Preliminary Catalogue of Anthophyta and Pteridophyta reported 



