250 thb: jouknal of botany 



refuses to cumber the name of the plant with the authority for the 

 species, as, he thinks, b.y so doing we but minister to the vanity of 

 the species maker; and also he rejects the claims of priority to 

 displace a well-known name. The author writes with much en- 

 thusiasm, but not always with care, and so we find such sentences 

 as " we have had opportunity to since observe it rather frequent." 

 Some day, we doubt not, Mr. Lloyd will cite his authorities, and 

 pay attention to his style. He is issuing a series of photographs of 

 Agaiics, and, if they are as good as the illustrations of his Collybias, 



they must be most helpful to students of mycology. 



A. L. S. 



Les Desmidiees de France. Par Joseph Comere. 8vo, pp. 222, 

 16 plates. Klincksiek, Paris. 



This is a very pretentious volume, as it deals with the Desmids of 

 the whole of France, where the most varied conditions obtain as to 

 habitat, &c. We must confess that we are greatly disappointed 

 with the work. It will serve the purpose of a catalogue of those 

 species hitherto recorded for France ; the introductory matter 

 should prove useful to the beginner, and so should the short 

 descriptions of the species to a botanist ; but criticiil remarks con- 

 cerning allied species, which are of the greatest use to an earnest 

 student, are totally lacking. It is painfully evident that a master 

 of this group of plants is still wanting to France. The number of 

 species of Desmids recorded for the whole of France is some scores 

 less than those on record for the county of Yorkshire alone. The 

 number of localities, too, is very few — much fewer than we should 

 expect from an average English county. 



On p. 25 the author writes : — '• Une bonne figure vaut toujours 

 mieux pour la determination des especes qu'une description si 

 parfaite qu'elle soit." We only wish that the author had given 

 good figures. The drawings are certainly not good ; they are 

 crude— many of them very crude — and the faults exhibited are so 

 numerous that it is a difficult matter to determine where to begin 

 and point out a comparatively small number of the more inaccurate 

 figures. We strongly advise M. Comere to examine the figures of 

 a work published on British Desmids fifty-three years ago, and 

 then notice his own figures, issued after five progressive decades 

 have elapsed — in a country, too, which is usually supposed to be 

 much more artistic than Britain. On PI. xiv., fig. 'da and fig. 86, 

 two figures are given of one of the most characteristic species — 

 ^' Micrasterias furcata," which certainly belong to the genus, but 

 could not be mistaken for this species by the merest tyro. On the 

 same plate the figure representing M. Tlwmasiana does not show 

 the characteristics of that species, and the outline of 3/. Jennerl is 

 not that of the type. The apices of fig. 1, PI. i., are not those of 

 Closterium lineatum, and we are quite certain that no real Closteria 

 exhibit the want of grace and symmetry depicted in many of the 

 figures with which this genus is illustrated. On PI. vi., fig. 1, a 

 caricature of PleurotcBiiiiim nodulosum is given which certainly does 

 not agree with the author's description of it. The figures of 



