BOOKS AND CURRENT LITERATURE 49 



a weed and a plant that is not injurious. A plant may be a weed in 

 one place and not in another. Epilobium spicatum is a most trouble- 

 some weed in the northwest. It is, however, seldom seen in the southern 

 Minnesota or in Iowa. Its range in the Manual is not correct, nor is 

 the range correct for Ranunculus acris. This species is rare in Iowa, 

 although common eastward and in the Lake Superior region. The 

 figures of Lepidium apetalum and Lepidium virginicum should be trans- 

 posed. Aside from a few such slips, the Manual is well prepared and 

 is a worthy companion of other treatises on weeds, that have appeared 

 in recent years. The make-up of the book is splendid. The volume 

 should find a place in the public school library, where books of this 

 kind are needed to supply information to those* who are studying weeds, 

 and it will also prove a most serviceable and valuable book to many 

 college students.— L. H. Pammel. 



Ferns of Washington. — Frye and Jackson's little book, The Ferns 

 of Washington, 4 is doing much to promote a more general knowledge 

 of the ferns of that state. The edition is a limited one, only 500 copies 

 having been printed. The writers find in the state, 30 species of Poly- 

 podiaceae, and 66 species of pteridophytes in all. The habitat and 

 general range of each species is given, but not the range within the 

 state. 



The work has a key to families and keys to genera and species. 

 These keys are admirable in that just as few technicalities as possible 

 are introduced into them. The families, genera, and species are all 

 described. The plates made from photographs and drawings aid 

 greatly in the identification of species, and add much to interest in this 

 attractive group of plants which form such a conspicuous feature of 

 the vegetation in many portions of the state. — George B. Rigg. 



4 Frye, T. C. and Jackson, Mabel M., The Ferns of Washington. Reprint 

 from Aril. Fern Jour. 3: 65:83 and 97-108, 1913, and 4: 6-14 and 41-57, 1914. Pp. 

 60, pi. 20. Lowman and Hanford, Seattle, 1914. (10.40.) 



