FLORA CAPENSIS. 315 



present rate of progression this is a matter not likely to trouble any 

 botanist now living. 



The -whole of the present volume is from the pen of Mr. J. G. 

 Baker, whose name is a guarantee that the British Museum Her- 

 barium has been duly consulted. We are fortunate in having, from 

 the pen of their author, this collection of the numerous papers dealing 

 with South African monocotyledons with which he has enriched 

 botanical literature. The proportion of new species described in the 

 body of the book is not large, but an appendix (also by Mr. Baker) 

 contains numerous novelties which have come to hand during the 

 progress of the volume through the press. 



Mr. Baker being thus the author of the book, the omission of his 

 name from the title-page is to be regretted. Cataloguers will be 

 compelled to enter the volume under the name of the editor, without 

 even a cross-reference to the man who has done the work. It is not 

 easy to see on what ground this can be justified, while it is certain 

 that it could have been avoided. If it be urged that the Director of 

 the Eoyal Gardens at Kew is ex officio responsible for all tbe publi- 

 cations that issue therefrom, it may be replied that this Flora is 

 "published under the authority of the governments of the Cape of 

 Good Hope and Natal," and, moreover, that Dr. Dyer's name 

 appears nowhere in connection with the eccentric little BuUetin of 

 Miscellaneous Ivformation, which is an official publication of Kew 

 Gardens. It can hardly be in accordance with an official rule, for 

 no such course is adopted with the British Museum publications — 

 the author's name, for example, stands alone on the title-page of 

 the Catalogue of Welwitsch's African Plants, although Mr. Murray 

 contributes an official preface. It cannot be said that the appear- 

 ance of Mr. Baker's name — even were he only a contributor to, and 

 not the author of, the volume — would be unprecedented; for the 

 five pages (out of 711) in which Dr. Dyer enumerated the Central 

 American Cycadacece were held sufficient to justify the insertion of 

 his name on the title-page of vol. iii. of Mr. Hemsley's Botany of 

 the Biologia Centrali-Americana. We trust that in future volumes 

 some means will be taken to recognize the actual authors on the 

 title-page of the Flora. 



Dr. Dyer has been fortunate in having obtained so much assist- 

 ance that it is a little difficult to see where his editorship comes in. 

 Mr. Baker has written the book : Mr. N. E. Brown has distributed the 

 localities under the difit'ereut regions, and Mr. Bolus has revised his 

 work; Mr. C. H. Wright "has greatly helped in reading tbe proofs" 

 — a task for which one would have thought Mr. Baker competent. 

 The Editor has, however, contributed a preface to the volume, 

 as well as a prefatory note to each part, and the first contains some 

 useful information regarding the more recent of the collections on 

 which the book is based. The twenty-five years' delay in continuing 

 the Flora is attributed to the Director's official duties and the ex- 

 pansion of South Africa, and we are glad (speaking from a botanical 

 standpoint) that these have so far been modified as to allow some- 

 thing to be done. After this there is hope for the Flora of Trojncal 

 Africa and the Guide to Kew Gardens, which, as will be seen in 



