242 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



to the author who first limited that genus by the separation or 

 omission from it of Knowltonia {Adonis ca_pensis L.). Incidentally 

 we note that emendation is indicated in different ways — " Cheli- 

 doiiium Linn. em. Crantz," " Trifolium Linn, em., Koch," *' Lupinus 

 Linn, diagn. em., DC." The necessity for these restricted references is 

 set forth by Mr. Wilmott in a somewhat ex cathedra statement which 

 we confess our inability to follow: the rendering of **make out" by 

 "facio" seems to us open to criticism: " Identification consists in 

 saying what you make out (facio) the specimen to be the same as 

 (idem). As the descriptions and figures are not always similar, and 

 the plants var}^ identification should consist in citing the descrip- 

 tion, figure, or specimen Avith wdiich a specimen has been matched. 

 The use of a name is only a brief way of referring to some descrip- 

 tion in order to avoid either giving a new one for every specimen 

 recorded, or preserving every specimen. The source whence the name 

 is taken should therefore be indicated if the identification is to be 

 definite. If this is done, it becomes relatively immatei-ial which of 

 two or three names is used, since the meaning is always discoverable." 



The botanical interest of the book of course centres in the second 

 Appendix — the first, to which no reference is made in the preface, 

 contains Mr. Rogers's conspectus of Buhl and is reprinted from the 

 ninth edition. In the second, which occupies thirtj^ p^^ges, " only the 

 more important advances " of the last seventeen years are included. 

 Mr. Wilmott says " it was difficult to decide what to omit," and he 

 was well advised to exclude a large number of so-called " varieties " 

 based on trivial characters. But it is surprising to note the absence 

 of any reference to Ilieracium and Saxifraga, which have received 

 much attention during the last seventeen years : E. S. Marshall's 

 careful description of new species or forms of these genera in this 

 Journal for 1913 and 1918 should, we think, have been noted ; the 

 omission of Nitdla spanioclada, figured and described in our 

 volume for 1919, is, we presume, due to inadvertence. Many of the 

 genera are treated at considerable length : Fumaria occupies 

 more than four pages ; other examples are AlchemiUa, Rhinanthus, 

 Saliconiia, Orchis, TJlmus, Polygonum, Orchis, and Koeleria. We 

 think that in some of these cases reference should have been made to 

 the sources whence the information was obtained and where it might 

 be supplemented : Salicornia and JJlmns, for example, are figured 

 and fuUv treated in the Cambridge British Flora ; and for Orchis 

 and Epipactis the papers in this journal by Messrs. Stephenson and 

 Col. Godfery (not " Godfrey") might have been indicated. 



While welcoming this tenth edition on behalf of those for whom 

 it has been undertaken, we must express a fervent hope that it will 

 be the last. Mr. Williams in his review of the ninth edition (Journ. 

 Bot. 1904, 272) expressed regret that the time and trouble expended 

 by the Messrs. Groves in " polishing up and trimming a Manual 

 which marked a closed chapter in British botany" should not have 

 been bestowed upon producing a British Flora of their own. The 

 reo-retted death of one of the brothers and the concentration of the 

 survivor upon a group which demands all his attention must prevent 



