200 FLORA OF NORTHERN UNITED STATES, CANADA, ETC. 



Stowell and that of my old-time friend and frequent correspondent 

 the late Dr. B. Cariington. In more recent years the island has 

 been bryologically explored at various times, mainly by Mr. G. A. 

 Holt, and that with so much thoroughness that the list of mosses 

 had been increased in 1882 to 232 species. The aggregate result 

 of the bryological investigations of the island is given in a most 

 exact and valuable paper by Mr. Holt, "A List of Mosses in the 

 Isle of Man, 1882," published in the Transactions of the Isle of 

 Man Natural History and Antiquarian Society, 1888 ; a list which 

 also should not be lost sight of in the event of any future projected 

 Flora of the island. — J. H. Davies. 



NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada, and the 

 British Possessions from Newfoundland to the Parallel of the 

 Southern Boundary of Virginia, and from the Atlantic Ocean 

 westivard to the 102nd Meridian. By Nathaniel Lord Britton, 

 Ph.D., Emeritus Professor of Botany in Columbia University, 

 and Director-in-Chief of the New York Botanical Garden, 

 and Hon. Addison Brown, President of the Torrey Botanical 

 Club. The descriptive text chiefly prepared by Professor 

 Britton, with the assistance of Specialists in several Groups ; 

 the figures also drawn under his Supervision. In three 

 volumes. Vol. I. : Ophioglossaceje to Aizoace^e — Ferns to 

 Carpet Weed. New York : Charles Scribner's Sons. 1896. 

 Pp. xh, 612. 



Prof. Britton is entitled to the gratitude of botanists for the 

 admirable work of which this is the first instalment. A concise 

 flora, brought up to date, complete, and illustrated, containing an 

 account of North American plants not too elaborate nor too learned 

 for the amateur, and yet sufficiently complete and scientific for the 

 student, has long been a desideratum. In saying this we are in no 

 way disparaging Asa Gray's admirable Manual, which, as an easily 

 portable volume, will always have claims on the field botanist; but 

 Prof. Britton's book cannot fail to be regarded as a more complete 

 and comprehensive manifestation of the North American Flora. 

 We call it "Prof. Britton's book," because, as we learn from the 

 preface, the claims of Judge Brown to recognition are of a some- 

 what shadowy description, and although in a few cases specialists 

 have contributed the descriptions of certain groups, the plan and 

 execution of the work as a whole is his. Mr. L. M. Underwood 

 has undertaken the Ferns and Fern Allies ; Dr. Morong the Naiad- 

 acea, Orchidacecc, and some smaller orders of Monocotyledons ; Mr. 

 F. V. Coville the Juncacea: Mr. J. K. Small the Pohjijonacea ; 

 while the assistance of Mr. G. V. Nash in the Graminea is acknow- 

 ledged. 



The main plan of the book corresponds largely with that of 



