1^11 



rated in the text, so that students will no longer need to search for 

 a given species under two distinct headings. 



In the style of presentation and in nomenclature, Dr. Chap- 

 man adheres closely to old traditions, preferring group-characters 

 interspersed through the specific descriptions rather than artificial 

 keys placed at the commencement of a genus, the usage in most 

 modern systematic works. The disadvantage of the former 

 method is the difficulty which the eye encounters in correlating 

 two or more headings when confused by an intricate maze of dag- 

 gers and asterisks. Yet the task of constructing systematic keys 

 where none had previously existed would have been too great a 

 labor to undertake in a work intended primarily as a revision. 

 Neither could Dr. Chapman be expected to undertake the bibli- 

 ographical research necessary to .place the nomenclature of his 

 flora on a modern basis. But it is to be regretted that he did not 

 see fit to make such corrections as recent studies have shown to be 

 essential, such as the substitution of Anemone qidnqiiefolia L. for 

 the European A. 7ieinorosa, and of Viola tenella Muhl., for V. 

 tncoloT var. arvcnsis DC. Many of these changes were made 

 even in the first fascicle of Gray's Synoptical Flora, issued last year, 

 and thus certainly bear the stamp of conservative authority. 



The lack of all system in the employment of citations is, as it 

 has always been, a defect in this work. Botanical bibliography has 

 now assumed such enormous proportions that full citations should 

 be given wherever possible ; and in a manual in which space does 

 not permit the practice, careful attention should be bestowed on 

 the verification of references. Dr. Chapman indicates new species 

 for the most part by an appended " ;/. jt/.," but occasionally these 

 receive no indication whatever, as in Eupatorium incisuin, requir- 

 ing an inspection of all the other editions to ascertain that the 

 plant is here described for the first time. The absence of an 

 authority in general signifies a new name given to an old species, 

 as " Vilnirmim molle Michx., var.? tonientosiim',' the synonym 

 cited being " V. scabrelliim Flora," and the reader being left to 

 infer that the " Flora " mentioned is an earlier edition of the same 

 work, and not the name of a botanist. 



In his earlier writings Dr. Chapman was inclined to be more 

 liberal than his contemporaries with regard to generic limitations, 



