SYNOPTICAL FLORA OF NORTH AMERICA, ETC. 495 



which, after all, must, within limits, be largely matter of personal 

 opinion until we get some more concrete notion of what is a genus, 

 Dr, Kraeiizlin follows Beutham in his delineation of Diandrae ; 

 except that he mol\ide>i Sdeiiipediuinv^nth Cijpiiiiediion. A serious 

 omission is that of any reference to a paper by Mr. Eolfe in the 

 Orchid Beview for 1896, where an arrangement of that suborder is 

 sketched out, and three new genera are proposed. 



Finally, we must take exception to the publication of MS. 

 names in a list of synonyms ; it serves no useful purpose, and 

 there are enough synonyms already. The citation of " Orchis 

 longicornu Pavon MSS. in herb. Boissier-Barbey," adds nothing to 

 our knowledge of Hahcnaria macroceratitis ; and " Orchis tragodes 

 Steven MSS.," " Serap. neglecta de Forest MSS.," are other 

 examples of this pernicious habit. 



Besides the Diandrae, the three fascicles already issued include 

 part of the tribe OphnjdecB, viz. the whole of the section OphrydincB, 

 with five genera : Ophrys, Orchis, Scrapias, Aceras, &nd. Anacawjjtis, 

 and the beginning of section HahenariecB, including Xeotinea and 

 twenty species of Hahenaria. 



Dr. Kraenzlin's diagnoses, which are, of course, in Latin, are 

 sufficiently full, and we are glad to note that he gives measure- 

 ments. They are followed by critical and other remarks in German, 

 and, with the exception of the synonymy, the text on the whole is 

 clear and well arranged. It is with some regret that we are unable 

 to review the parts more favourably ; but a work of such im- 

 portance demands the very utmost care in production as well as in 

 elaboration. We would suggest that a careful monograph of one 

 of the tribes would be a more useful and more permanent contribu- 

 tion to orchiJology than a hasty, and therefore necessarily incom- 

 plete and inaccurate, revision of the whole order. APR 



Synoptical Flora of North America. Vol. i., part i., fascicle ii. 



Polypetalse from the Caryophyllaceai to the Polygalacese. 



By Asa Gray, LL.D., continued and edited by Benjamin 



Lincoln Robinson, Ph.D., with the collaboration of William 



Trelease, John Merle Coulter, and Liberty Hyde Bailey. 



Issued Juue 10, 1897. New York, Cincinnati and Chicago : 



American Book Compauy. London : W. Wesley. 8vo, pp. 



ix-xvi, 207-506. 

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



British Possessions. By Nathaniel Lord Britton and Hou. 



Addison Brown. Vol. ii. Portulacacese to Meuyanthaceffi. 



New York : Scribner. 8vo, pp. 1-613. 1897. 



We regret that, by an oversight, the first part of the Synoptical 

 Flora, which was published Oct. 10, 1895, received no notice in 

 these pages. As a continuation of Dr. Gray's work, mainly in 

 accordance with his traditions — vol. ii., it will be remembered, 

 appeared in two parts during Gray's life- time in 1878 and 1884 — 

 it cannot fail to be of interest and importance, apart from its local 



