106 ERYTHEA. 



REVIEWS AND CRITICISMS. 



The Synoptical Flora of North America. Vol. i, Part II, Fascicle 

 II. Caryophyllace?e to Polygalacere. By Asa Gray, LL.D., 

 Late Fisher Professor of Natural History in Harvard Univer- 

 sity, AND OTHERS. Edited by Benjamin Lincoln Robinson, 

 Ph. D., Curator of the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University. 

 Issued June 10, 1897. Cambridge Botanical Supply Co,, 

 Cambridge, Mass. 



With the issuance of the second fascicle of the Synoptical Flora 

 the treatment of the pol}' petalous orders is carried as far as the end 

 of Polygalaceje and the last of the manuscript, which Dr. Gray left 

 unpublished^ is now before the students of American botany. But 

 a comparatively small part of the fascicle is, however, the work of 

 Dr. Gray, since much, just here, remained unfinished at the time of 

 his death. The Caryophyllacese, Sapindacese and other orders, in 

 whole or in part, have been written by Dr. Robinson; the Hyperi- 

 cacere have been done by Prof. J. M. Coulter ; the Vitacese and 

 the genus Citrus by Prof. L. H. Bailey; while Prof. Wm. Trelease 

 has contributed the Linaceoe, Geraniacefe, Aquifoliacese Celastracese 

 and Rhamnacese. 



Doubtless the most impressive feature of these pages is the evi- 

 dences of thoroughness in their preparation, not only observable in 

 the diagnoses but more conspicuously, perhaps, in the numerous 

 citations to recent literature. This last was surely a most trying 

 phase of the editor's work. It is no June day's task to pass satis- 

 factory judgment upon each and every paper in the mass of current 

 literature bearing upon the work in hand — yet no paper must be 

 hastily gone over or ignored since hidden beneath an amateurish 

 dress (or worse) facts or discoveries deserving recognition or incor- 

 poration may possibly be lurking. 



Regarding mere matters of form a word of criticism may here be 

 set down. In the first fascicle "n. sp." was added to nomina nova, 

 and in the present fascicle in similar cases we find "n. comb," The 

 indication in the first case is wrong and in either case superfluous, it 

 seems to us. It is, moreover, not in keeping with Dr. Gray's practise, 

 who habitually wrote the name of a new species or a new combina- 

 tion without 'Any indication, a custom which always appealed to us 

 as perfectly natural and simple. 



