164 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



A Geograj)hical Handbook of all the Known Ferns, with Tables to shoio 

 their Distribution. By R. M. Lyell. London: Murrray. 1S70. 

 8vo. (Pp. 225.) 



In this work the whole surface of the globe is divided into eighteen 

 districts, and a separate Fern Flora for each is given, with an account 

 of the detailed stations for the species known to its authoress on each 

 of the areas. The districts adopted are as follows : — 



1. Europe proper. 2. Algeria, Madeira, Canaries, Azores. 3. 

 North, Central, and Western Asia, China, and Japan. 4. Northern 

 India. 5. Southern India, and Ceylon. 6. Eastern Peninsula and 

 Archipelago, Philippine Isles. 7. Tropical Australia, New Guinea, 

 Caroline and Solomon Isles, New Hebrides, New Caledonia. 8. Tem- 

 perate Austi'alia with New Zealand. 9, Polynesia. 10. Tropical 

 Africa and Isles. 11. Cape Colony and Natal, Tristan d'Acunha. 

 12, Subarctic, Greenland, Canada, and westerly to the Rocky Moun- 

 tains. 13. United States and Bermudas. 14. California, New 

 Mexico, and British Columbia. 15. Mexico, Panama, West Indies. 

 16. Venezuela, New Granada, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Galapagos. 17. 

 Guiana, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay. 18. Chili, La Plata, Patagonia, 

 Falkland, Juan Fernandez. 



Nothing of the same kind has been before attempted, and the lists 

 have been compiled very carefully. Hooker and Baker's ' Synopsis 

 Filicum ' being followed implicitly for special Hmitation and nomen- 

 clature. At the end of the work the species are traced through the 

 eighteen districts in a table, so that at a glance their general distribu- 

 tion is shown. 



;grotc£i)tn0S of Sodetrcs. 



LiNNEAN SociKTT. — April 7tk, 1870. — Or. Benthatn, F.R.S., President, in 

 the chair. The following botanical papers were read :— " On some Algse from 

 the North Atlantic Ocean." By Professor Dickie. These were collected by 

 Dr. Mitchell, R.N. They formed a floating green sheet of gi'eat extent, con- 

 taining fragments of woods, young seedlings, and debris of various kinds, which 

 had evidently been drifted from some distant land. Dr. Dickie described 

 three species, all new. One allied to JEnteromoiyha Ralfsii, which he named 

 Calonema pellucidum, Calonema being a new genus to include C. Ralfsii and 

 C. pellucidmn. The other two were new species of Scyzonema and Scyzosiphon. 

 Also, " On Pleiotaxy of the perianth in Philesia buxifolia." By. Dr. R. O. 



