62 THE JOUKNAL or UOTAXy 



The first of the studies here published treats of the genus 

 Athyrium. Among the conclusions reached are the following : — 

 (1) In the Eastern United States and Canada there are two distinct 

 species of Lady Ferns, neither of which is conspecific with A. Filix- 

 j'emina (L.) Rotli of Europe; one, A. asplenioides (Michx.) Desv., 

 is prevailingly southern in its distribution ; the other, A. angusfum 

 (Willd.) Presl, is prevailingly northern. (2) The plants of the 

 north-west are consj)ecific with the European plant, though in some 

 cases differing in minor points. (3) The Calif ornian plants and 

 those of the southern Kocky Mountains differ more markedly from 

 tlie European, but are not clearly distinct from the more northern 

 form, and therefore are best considered as an aberrant geographical 

 variety of A. Filix-femina. (4) A boreal and high alpine fernl 

 found in eastern Quebec and in the alpine areas of western North 

 America is a clearly distinct geographical variety of the Old World 

 A. alpestre. 



The second study is concerned with Botrychium virginianum, 

 which when closely scrutinised proves to be readily divisible into 

 natural varieties, four of which are new to science and are limited to 

 North America, and one other which includes Euroj^e in its geo- 

 graphical distribution. 



The author promises f ui'ther instalments of this interesting and 

 much needed investigation. 



British Ferns and IIoio to Know Them (Methuen : London, 1917. 

 Price Is. 6d. net) is the title of a popular work by S. Leonard Bastin, 

 designed to guide the beginner in his early struggles to distinguish 

 oiir native ferns. Himself evidently a grower and an amateur, the 

 author has pi'oduced a readable account of nearly seventy ferns and 

 fern-allies, described in simple terms from living specimens, either wild 

 or cultivated. Though he seldom makes mention of such small but 

 important characters as venation, trichomes, -Ac, yet he often pro- 

 vides items of practical and helpful information about habit or habitat, 

 which are usually lacking in the ordinary handbooks.- The notes on 

 cultivation must be the outcome of personal experience and should 

 prove valuable. The first three chapters give simple sketches of the 

 morphology and classification ; of the life-histories of a few well- 

 known types ; and of the fossil Ferns, Pteridosperms and Bennettiteje 

 with reference to evolution of Cycads, Gymnosperms and Phanero- 

 gams. The text is illustrated with 33 process-blocks from original 

 photograjjhs. 



A. a. 



BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, etc. 



At the meeting of the Linnean Society on 13th Deeeniber, 

 Capt. Arthur W. Hill exhibited specimens of seeds enclosed in a stony 

 endocarp and their germination, and by drawings on the blackboard 

 explained the various modifications displaj^ed. In certain genera the 

 seed or seeds are protected by inclusion within a stony endocarp ; 



