New Manual of Botany. 255 



GRAY'S NEW MANUAL OF BOTANY. 

 By J. J. Thornber. 



Perhaps no book in botany that has appeared during 

 the year will receive greater welcome at the hands of a large 

 and varied group of botanical workers than that of Gray's 

 New Manual of Botany which is just from the press. It is 

 nearly twenty years since the sixth edition of Gray's Manual 

 by Dr. Sereno Watson and Professor J. M. Coulter was 

 published; during this time progress has been extremely rapid 

 along botanical lines the world over. Great changes have 

 been made in classification of plants and in the matter of 

 nomenclature, for which reason the appearance of this classic 

 In American botany is extremely timely. 



The authors, Drs, B. L. Robinson and M. L. Fernald, 

 of Harvard University, have spared no pains to make the book 

 as practical for the worker in systematic botany, be he stu- 

 dent or amateur, and also as up to date as possible, so f.ir as 

 they felt justified, with reference to classification and espec- 

 ially the debatable subject of nomenclature. The well-known 

 Engler and Prantl system of classification has been followed 

 almost entirely, and as concerns nomenclature the recommen- 

 dations of the International Congress at Vienna. In defer- 

 erence to differences in nomenclatorial practice existing in this 

 country, where the plant names as given under the Interna- 

 tional Rules differ from those allowed by the Rochester and 

 American Codes synonyms have been inserted which add 

 greatly to the value and usefulness of the book for the taxono- 

 mist. It would seem that in Gray's New Manual we have 

 a book in which there could be a meeting of the minds of 

 practically all American botanical workers, and it is to be 

 greatly hoped that this book will exert a strong influence in 

 settling the controversial subject of nomenclature in this coun- 

 try and in shaping future thought concerning this matter. 



As a result of the revisions noted above, the text matter 

 is entirelv rearranged and much has been rewritten; besides 



