3S4 BOTAMCAL GAZETTE. 



Plates 1, 5, 9, 15, 17, 36 and 50, representing the smaller ferns, and 

 plates 10, 13, 31, 35, 40 and 52, representing tlie larger growing 

 species, seem to possess superior excellence. In fact many of the 

 plates of this book would be eagerly seized upon by the virtuoso if 

 met with among a collection of etchings, as a great prize. Mr. Wil- 

 liamson is a man who does this work, not because he desires to emu- 

 late the work of eminent botanists, but because tlie aV)ility to do it is 

 in him and he can but allow it to manifest itself. Mr. Williamson's 

 occupation and circumstances are such tliat he does not possess the 

 leisure time which is often at the command of the amateur to spend 

 upon the work he so much enjoys, making the result so much the 

 more to be wondered at. 



The volume before us is dedicated to a mutual friend of the author 

 and the present writer, and it is with unfeigned pleasure that the 

 latter commends tlie author's taste in selecting one to honor who, 

 like himself, works against surroundings for the love of the branch of 

 science in whi(;h he labors. 



As the number of species represented is about one half of the 

 known ferns of the country, and a second volume would include all, 

 it makes the price of the volume, which is .$7.50, very much less in 

 proportion than is charged for the works usually met with occupying 

 the same tield, thus bringing it within the limit of many more per- 

 sons than is generally the case. 



It is to be hoped that the sales of this volume will be such as to 

 warrant the completion of the work, and if such should be the case 

 the public, and pteridologists particularly, would have a rare volume 

 if Mr. Williamson succeeded in carrying it as far beyond the present 

 one as this is superior to his first book, ''Ferns of Kentucky," which, 

 ju'lging from his work thus far, he may do. — John Robinson. 



Tension in an Oak. — Near New Birmingham, Ohio, is a good sized 

 White Oak which furnishes so good an illustration of the tension of 

 tissues that it is worth while noting. The tree had been cut into on 

 one side, just fairly into the sap wood, and then left. Being exposed 

 to a heavy wind it was so bent away from the cut side that the slab 

 split up the tree some ten feet, its cut end slipping entirely out of 

 its former resting place. The connection above was perfectly retain- 

 ed and hence the slab continued to live, projected at a small angle 

 from the tree. The lower end, after slipping out from its support, has 

 so elongated that it is now nearly two inches too long to occupy its 

 former position. There has also been a healing up and barking over 



