I902. Reviews. 227 



Dr. Spruce's classification, as we might expect, has been adopted, and 

 the detailed description of species is preceded by a translation of his 

 " Conspectus Hepaticorum," from his great work on South American 

 Hepaticae. The admirable descriptions drawn up by one who is familiar 

 with the plants in the field, and with exotic species, and fully illustrated as 

 they are on the plates, together with the observations in which similar 

 species are contrasted and separated, will be of the greatest service for 

 the identification of the species of this difficult family of plants. The 

 descriptions contain no mention of the seasons of inflorescence and 

 fruiting, probably from want of sufficient data ; a want which we hope 

 may be supplied by observers. 



The plates form a thick volume by themselves. The drawings, while 

 a great improvement on Carrington's, are rather disappointing, not so 

 life-like as those of Hooker, too stiff and diagrammatic, and not so well 

 shaded. We refer to the uncoloured ; we have not seen the coloured 

 edition. The very useful life-size figures are not so fine and accurate in 

 detail as they should be, and may have suffered in engraving. The 

 separate organs illustrated number about fifteen on a plate, so that the 

 total number of figures is very large. 



Its chief drawback is the excessive price of the work. A cheaper, 

 handier, and not less sersaceable book might have been formed by 

 judicious arrangement of the text, with smaller print for less important 

 portions, such as the measurements, and explanations of plates. One 

 would think the object had been to make it as bulky as possible in 

 keeping with the price. Why do our publishers not follow the better 

 continental models } Although it might have curtailed the illustrations 

 to put four species instead of one on a plate, the corresponding 

 reduction in price would have made the work available to a larger 

 number of persons. Now it is prohibitive. The date on the title-page 

 is 1902. To be correct it should be 1899-1902, as the first part appeared 

 in the former year. Several of Mr. Macvicar's important additions to 

 our flora have been added during the progress of the work, such as 

 Jungennania obtusa Lindb. and Pellia Neesiana Limpr. It is a pity that his 

 latest discoveries of no less than seven species were made too late to be 

 included. 



The Liverworts will always have a peculiar interest for Irish botanists, 

 as the group is so well represented in this country, especially in the 

 South-west. Out of the 219 species described by the author, three-fourths- 

 or 165, grow in Ireland. Excluding the true alpine species the propor- 

 tion would be much greater. 



The distribution of the species in Great Britain is given according to 

 the botanical provinces. Why were the Irish provinces not included ? 

 Irish botanists will be disappointed to find that while the older records 

 are given, many recent ones have been ignored, especially those from the 

 North of Ireland. To students of distribution this may be misleading. 

 For example " South of Ireland" is the locality put iox Jubula Hutchmsia 

 (Hook.) Dum., a species recorded from three localities in Co. Down. 

 The distribution of Phurozia cochleariformis (Weiss) Dum, is interesting, 



