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the other, under the names of Myxogastres, Myxomycetes, and 

 Mycetozoa, have naturally been the object of much interest and 

 study, and have been treated of in several monographs, such as the 

 important Monograph of the Myxogastres, by Mr. G. Massee, 

 issued in 1892. But, despite the excellent work that had already 

 been done in this group, Mr. Lister's monograph will be recognised 

 as a most valuable aid towards a clear knowledge of a difficult group 

 of organisms. That it is the work of an adept is evident on every 

 page ; and the text is supplemented by fifty-one woodcuts (eight 

 illustrative of the structure, and forty-three of the genera), and seventy- 

 eight plates, on each of which the characters of at least two species 

 are very clearly shown in collotype reproductions of admirable water- 

 colour drawings by the author, and by his daughter, Miss G. 

 Lister. 



The subsidiary title does not indicate the full scope of the book, 

 since (though arising from a critical examination of rich materials in 

 the British Museum) it embodies the result of years of study by the 

 author, and is a complete monograph of the whole group. It will 

 be found indispensable to students of this group. The work is 

 honourable alike to the author and to the enlightened procedure of 

 the Trustees of the British Museum in furthering the provision of 

 standard scientific hand-books for the public benefit. 



THE LONDON CATALOGUE OF BRITISH PLANTS, Part I., con- 

 taining the British Phasnogamia, Filices, Equisetaceae, Lycopodiaceag, 

 Selaginellaceas, Marsileaceaa, and Characeag. 



The ninth edition of this well-known Catalogue has very recently 

 been issued by Mr. F. J. Hanbury. That this is much more than a 

 mere list of names, even with the addition of a summary of the 

 number of Watsonian counties and vice-counties tenanted by each 

 species, is too well known to all interested in British Botany to 

 require any advocacy of its value. The new edition is of peculiar 

 importance, inasmuch as it embodies the results of nine years of 

 active labour in the critical study of British plants, alike in the field 

 and compared with those of other lands. Field work has led to the 

 discovery during those years of several species not previously known 

 to exist in the wild state in our islands, and also to the recognition 

 of not a few more or less well-marked varieties, some of which had 

 been previously known from foreign countries, while others have not 

 yet been found out of Britain. There may, in certain genera where 

 the species appear to be in an almost plastic state, be some risk that 

 the ordinary botanist will despair of attaining any satisfactory know- 

 ledge of their species or forms, and will leave them to specialists. 

 But it is well, from every point of view, that we should have the 

 means of knowing clearly the conclusions arrived at by recognised 

 authorities in the more perplexing groups; and this we have now given 

 to us. 



