472 NATURAL SCIENCE. August. 



and is, like its predecessor, the work of Mr. N. E. Brown, of the Kew 

 Herbarium. Of the 104 pages, a few lines are given to a note on 

 Acer campestre, ten pages to the Leguminosae or, as they are styled, 

 Leguminiferaj, while the remainder is taken up with the Rosaceae, 

 and almost entirely with the two genera Riibus and Rosa. Mr. Brown 

 admits that he has never studied these two difficult genera, and can, 

 therefore, express no opinion. Professor Babington has revised the 

 proofs of Rubiis, besides supplying notes for some of the species, while 

 in the Roses Mr. Baker's grouping of the varieties has been followed. 

 A good deal has been done in these genera since the publication of 

 the third edition, and we are inclined to think the present account 

 will form one of the most valuable parts of the Supplement, even 

 though the author does not venture to express his own opinion and 

 it be but a compilation. Mr. Brown is a painstaking compiler, and 

 has had work of the very best from which to draw, and some British 

 botanists may set a higher value on such compilation than on more 

 original notes, for British botany must be learnt in the field, and the 

 many varieties and critical forms studied as they grow. Conclusions 

 drawn from herbarium specimens are not always borne out by the 

 living plant, and although the facts relating to plants and their 

 synonymy have been assiduously collected for the Supplement, yet 

 we seem to miss the matured experience and confident criticism of 

 the practised field-worker. 



The paper and printing are as excellent as those of the previous 

 part, while the solitary plate [Potentilla norvegica) is as poor as its 

 predecessors. It looks wiry, and is evidently not the work of a 

 competent artist. 



Grasses. By C. H. Johns, M.A. Fcap. 8vo. Pp. 96. London : S. P. C. K. 

 Price IS. 6d. 



This little book is styled " An Appendix to the late Rev. C. H. Johns' 

 Flowers of the Field "; referring, of course, to the well-known work 

 by the Rev. C. A. Johns, also published by the S. P. C. K. The 

 title is misleading, as a third of the work is occupied by the Sedges 

 or Cyperaceae, while the decoration of the cover with the common 

 Bulrush {Typha latifolia), a member of an Order not very closely 

 related to either Grasses or Sedges, is hardly commendable. 



A handy popular flora devoted to these glumaceous monocoty- 

 ledons has long been a desideratum, but we fear the arrangement and 

 descriptions in the present work are not sufficiently popular to supply 

 the want. In " get up " it is distinctly inferior to " Flowers of the 

 Field," the letterpress is not so clear, andthe illustrations, which form 

 so essential a part in such a flora, are very poor. It is a pity we 

 cannot have a new edition of the whole work brought up to date, and 

 including not only Sedges and Grasses, but also the Ferns and allies. 

 The thirty pages occupied by an account of the Linna^an arrange- 

 ment might be left out, and some of the space devoted to a fuller 

 explanation of terms now rather crudely disposed of in 14 pages. 



