NOTICES OF BOOKS. 319 
you see a flattened specimen with an entirely white under surface, or at 
Gymnogramma chrysophylla, and you see an entirely plain yellow sur- 
face. Root and caudex are never represented; nor any magnified por- 
tion either of the frond or fructification, both often quite necessary for 
comprehending the ** Natural History of the species." There is in- 
deed, in all cases, at the head of each description, a woodeut, repre- 
senting a portion of the species, and so superior in point of exe- 
eution that we could have wished the author had confined himself 
tothem. Many cultivators and nurserymen, no doubt, think differently, 
and no one can complain of the price, 1s., for four such coloured plates, 
as many woodcuts, and four leaves of descriptive matter. The latter 
is not indicative of one practised in botanical writing ; but a little care 
and attention, and following a good pattern, would enable the author 
to avoid errors committed in the numbers now before us, and he seems to 
have addressed himself to the task without sufficient preparation. At the 
very first page, Gymnogramma (a genus) is called “Tribe 1." — Gymno- 
gramma itself, we suspect, should be Gymnogramme (yvpvos, naked, 
and Yeap, a line—not “ ypappa, writing"). G. faríarea : this word 
means tartareous (not **infernal"). The yellow Gymnogrammes are 
not satisfactorily distinguished botanically, and there is no attempt at 
any specific character, as in all botanical works of modern times.. Gym- 
nogramme rufa and G. tomentosa are mere varieties of each other, as is 
seen in any good Herbarium collection (in which probably Mr. Lowe 
is deficient), where all intermediate forms may be observed; yet the ; 
description does not hint at their close affinity. In the same way 
Nothochlena crassifolia, ‘Moore and Houlston," is a mere form of 
N. trichomanoides ; and we hope, as it is “ not yet included in any of - 
the Nurserymen's Catalogues," that it never will be. Nurserymen’s 
catalogues are a great deal too full already. Under both these plants 
the term “caudate,” applied to the base of the pinnae, is written for 
cordate. No synonymy is ever given ;—by synonymy we mean refe- - 
rence to authors’ works where they are previously described. There — 
is a list of authors’ names indeed, often calculated to mislead. — 
Take Adiantum concinnum, for example, where such reference is the — 
more required, because there is not one word of description by which — 
this very distinct. species may be recognized. After its name we find — 
* Hooker, Humboldt, Presl, Bonpland, Link, Willdenow, Moore and - 
Houlston, Kunth (Kunze? or should not Humboldt, Bonpland, and 
Kunth be brought together, as the authors of one work—H. B. K.? ete.). 
