140 THE PLANT WOELD 



but the author has inckided such interesting data of every sort relating 

 to the growth and habits of each species, that it must indeed prove of 

 great value to all professing an interest in this group of plants. Above 

 all should be mentioned the very complete and careful diagnoses of the 

 species, and the high character of the illustrations which accompany 

 them. The first excellence arises from the fact that the author has not 

 relied exclusively upon previous descriptions, but has had the benefit 

 of fresh material, good eyes, and a ready pen. The illustrations, bar- 

 ring one or two of the colored plates, are uncommonly good, many of 

 them far ahead of any we have hitherto seen. Little folk-lore attaches 

 to the exclusively American species, but of those common to both hem- 

 isi)heres many quaint superstitions are recited by the author. A note- 

 worthy feature is found in the illustrated key to genera, in which the 

 generic diagnoses are accompanied by drawings of characteristic fruit- 

 ing parts of typical species. With all these helps the merest amateur 

 can hardly go astray in identifying a given specimen, and certainly fern 

 study in America, even now strongly on the gain, will be further stimu- 

 lated directly through this book. 



The work is, however, not without its shortcomings. Certain por- 

 tions betray a most unscientific spirit, and the author is not to be com- 

 mended for proposing in an altogether haphazard way a number of sup- 

 I)Osedly new combinations. Thus in discussing the lady-fern {Athyrium, 

 Filix-foemina), a comparison is drawn between the rhizomes of the 

 European and American specimens, and a supposed difference " seems 

 to indicate that the two are not identical. In this case our plant would 

 be known as Athyrium Michcmxii, or perhaps more properly Athyrium 

 filix-foemina llichauxii." Both combinations had previously been pub- 

 lished, but had they not, as the author e^^dently believed, a fuller dis- 

 cussion of the claims of the American plant to recognition would have 

 been quite in order. Another passage which is curiously out of place 

 relates to the scientific name of the American ostrich fern (p. 259). The 

 author takes up Struthiopteris Germanica, and notes that the name 

 Matteuccia, which has been used by recent writers, will probably not 

 prevail. Nevertheless, in the contingency of its subsequent general 

 acceptance he provides the name 3Iatteucia stridhioj^teris Pennsylvanica 

 Clute! Another rather odd practice we note, too, that of making Bo- 

 try chium dissectum a subspecies of B. ohliquuiii, published some six 

 years later. For certain reasons the author has retreated to the no- 

 menclature of Gray's Manual, and in man 3^ ways endeavors to discredit 

 the more modern effort toward " stability." Thus, little discussions on 

 nomenclature appear under manj- species. They serve to mar the book 

 as a popular treatise, but on the other hand they indicate more plainly 

 than a simple statement of synonymy the total lack of justice and sta- 

 bility in what may be called the lazy (rather than conservative) nomen- 

 clature chosen by the author. Nomenclature as a debatable question 

 had best been eliminated from the work. In other points, with the 

 exception of the quality of paper used, the book merits hearty appro- 

 val, and this it will doubtless receive. Its publishers have advertised it 

 as "The American Fern Book;" as such it will undoubtedly command 

 a wide sale. — W. E. M. 



