124 NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



Moore, Thomas, F.L.S. ; Index Filicum ; a Synopsis, w 



ters of the Genera, and an Enumeration of the Species of 



Part I. 



References, etc. etc. 12mo. London: Pamplin. 1857. 



This promises to be a very useful publication, and to be equally cre- 

 ditable to the author with his excellent c Handbook of British Ferns/ 

 4 and his recently completed • Ferns of Great Britain and Ireland, Na- 

 ture-printed/ etc. There is no lack of manuals of British Ferns ; but 

 what has long been a desideratum is a cheap work in popular language 

 on Ferns in general ; and we know no one more competent to carry 

 out such a work in a manner that shall supply this want than Mr. 

 Moore. Species iu great numbers are described in books, and genera 

 usque ad nauseam. The present work is professedly " mainly a com- 

 pilation." " Free use is made of the statements, critical or other- 

 wise, of those botanists who have devoted attention to the subject, the 

 whole being blended with such personal information as the author has 

 been able to bring to bear on the subject." The labour of such a work 

 however is not light. A host of publications, and many of a very ex- 

 pensive character, have to be consulted ; and then comes the great diffi- 

 culty of what of the many new genera of modern authors have to be 

 retained, and what to be rejected. Nor is the difficulty less in the 

 selection of species. In the determination of genera he can use his 

 own judgment, because there are but few of which he cannot con- 

 sult some or other of the species, while multitudes of new species are 

 only known to those who have, too often imperfectly, described them. 

 In regard to the former, the author professes to hold a middle course, 

 u between the excessive subdivision, and the equally inconvenient non- 



division of the older genera." 



We heartily wish the enumeration of species (unaccompanied, we 

 fear, by any specific characters or distinguishing marks) could have im- 

 mediately followed the characters of their respective genera. Here the 

 characters of all the genera are first given, a few examples only of spe- 

 cies ; while the species are to follow apart from the genera. Still more 

 do we regret to learn that they " will be arranged in alphabetical order, 

 for facility of reference." Upon the same principle we do not sec why 



