veitch's manual of the conifer;e 41 



herbarium, but sncli a method of procedure in the case of the 

 Conifera; would be disastrous. The family is one which must be 

 studied while living and growing, under various conditions and in 

 different stages of development, Mr. Kent has had exceptional 

 opportunities for such studies, and hence his peculiar fitness for the 

 task he has now undertaken. 



The plan of the book is as in the former edition. The " General 

 Review" has grown to over a hundred pages, and forms an excellent 

 introduction to the general morphology and distribution of the 

 family, both in space and time. Here, as elsewhere, the author 

 acknowledges his indebtedness to Dr. Masters's recent invaluable 

 contributions to our knowledge of the order, chiefly throagh the 

 medium of the Linnean Society's Journal. This part of the book 

 has also been augmented by the inclusion of the papers on the 

 "Diseases of Conifers," by Prof. Marshall Ward, and "Insects 

 injurious to ConiferiE,'" by Mr. W. F. H. Blandford, which have 

 been reprinted or abridged from the Report of the Conifer Con- 

 ference held at Chiswick in 1891, under the auspices of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society. 



In the systematic portion of the work Mr. Kent has followed the 

 arrangement adopted by Dr. Masters. The Taxacem are considered 

 to represent a group of ordinal rank as originally proposed by 

 Lindley, a position which accords better with the marked structural 

 peculiarities of the flower and fruit than the tribal rank subse- 

 quently reverted to and maintained, among other botanists, by the 

 authors of our Genera Plantarum, and also by Eichler, whose 

 arrangement appeared in 1887 in the Natiirlichen Pflanzenfamilien 

 of Engler and Prantl. 



The genera admitted in the Mamial are those of Dr. Masters's 

 recent revision, with the exception of Endlicher's Ghjptostrohm, 

 which is included in Ta.vocUum, and of Ahietia, a new name coined 

 by Mr. Kent to replace Pseudotsuga of Carriere, with which he also 

 includes Keteleerla of the same author. The name PseiuloUufja is 

 rejected because it is a barbarous combination, and " misleading in 

 such meaning as it has;" but we do not think many botanists will 

 be inclined to follow Mr. Kent. The reformers of nomenclature 

 have sufficient scope already, without extending their licence to 

 barbarous names. 



Good descriptions are given of all genera, species, and varieties 

 which are likely to be of the slightest value from an economic or 

 horticultural point of view ; wherever it was possible, the descrip- 

 tions have been made from fresh specimens. To extensive notes on 

 geographical distribution, habitat, and economic use, Mr. Kent adds 

 information as to the introduction and growth of the plant in this 

 country. He has also given short biographies of those botanists, 

 collectors, &c., who have been commemorated in specific names. 



The plates and figures, many of them new, are of a high order, 

 and add much to the attractiveness and usefulness of the work, the 

 whole get-up of which is excellent. The author has not only been 

 eminently successful in his endeavour "to collect from the best 

 available sources every item of information that should prove useful 



