286 NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



"The work is intended for those who have mastered the 

 elements of Botany, and who wish to be acquainted, as rapidly and 

 readily as may be, with the name and systematic position of any of 

 our native plants." The plan of the key to the genera and species, 

 which occupies most of the book, is adapted from the ' Flora 

 Australiensis,' the characters of the latter bemg in most cases 

 comparative only as regards South Australian species. Following 

 this comes a classified list of the native species, in which much use 

 has been made of Baron von Mueller's 'Census of Australian 

 Plants,' tabulated so as to show the distribution of each species 

 through the twelve districts into which Prof. Tate has subdivided 

 the province. " Two chief floras are recognised : — (1) The Eremian or 

 Desert Flora, which occupies the arid regions of Central Australia, 

 and corresponds with the ' Salt-marsh country' of the pastoralist. 

 The region is approximately limited by the rain-fall line of ten 

 inches. (2) The Euronotian Flora, which is dominant in the more 

 humid parts of Temperate Australia, excepting the extreme south- 

 west." Five of the subdivisions fall under the former head, seven 

 under the latter. The Flora includes 101 orders, 553 genera, and 

 1935 species. 



An explanation of specific names is followed by an index to the 

 orders and genera, with explanations of generic names. There is 

 some ground for criticism here, mainly on account of the want of 

 uniformity in the generic explanations. Thus we have — 



" Ammannia ; after a botanical professor at St. Petersburg. 



" Bignoniaceaa ; from Bignonia, a personal name. 



"Burtonia; personal name. 



"Caesia ; after F. Cassius (1703). 



"Crantzia ; after a botanical author (1762-68). 



"Claytonia ; after a botanical collector. 



"Hermannia; after Prof. Hermann, of Leyden, died 1695." 



— and other variations might be cited. It would have been easy to 

 adopt a uniform plan, which would take no more space and give 

 fuller information. This, however, is but a small matter. It con- 

 cerns us much more to draw attention to the excellence of the work, 

 and to express a hope that we may soon have similar handbooks for 

 our various colonies. 



Mr. F. M. Bailey, the Queensland Colonial Botanist, sends us 

 a "Third Supplement" to his 'Synopsis of the Queensland Flora' 

 published in 1883, which, containing as it does about a hundred 

 additional species, shows that the Flora of the Colony is receiving 

 careful attention at his hands. The plants in question were mainly col- 

 lected by the Bellenden-Ker Expedition. Some of the specific names 

 seem unnecessarily ugly, such as Leptospernium Wooroonaran ("the 

 aboriginal name for Bellenden-Ker"), Desris Kooh/ibbcrah ("the 

 aboriginal name for the Mulgrave Paver"). Figures are given of 

 many of the Ferns, Mosses, and Hepaticae ; we note, however, that 

 of the novelties in the two latter groups, the name only, without 

 description, is given. 



