72 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



The arrangement of the book is alphabetical, and there is no 

 synonymy, either in text or index ; this will be inconvenient for 

 those who are not familiar with the nomenclature adopted — e. g. 

 they will find no mention of Nephrodimn in the contents, though 

 it is mentioned under Lastrcea — which by the way is spelt 

 " Lastrea " throughout. It is rather surprising to find Botrychium 

 and Ophioglossum included in their place in the alphabet ; their 

 inclusion among " ferns " is misleading, and, as they practically 

 present nothing worth mentioning in the way of variation, vm- 

 necessary. 



There are useful introductory chapters on the life- history of 

 Ferns (well illustrated), crossing and hybridizing, " multiple 

 parentage," propagation and culture, selection, and " types of 

 variation." The chief value of the book, however, except to fern- 

 growing enthusiasts, will be found in the very numerous illustra- 

 tions, which show an extraordinary range of form ; the ninety- six 

 nature-prints are from the collection of the late Colonel Jones, 

 of Clifton. 



BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, dx. 



Das System der Biologie in Forschung und Lehre, by Dr. 

 Phil. S. Tschulok (Fischer, Jena, pp. x. 409, price 9 marks), whilst 

 advancing no new theories, contains a careful account of the 

 progress of biological knowledge from 1732. The vast output of 

 work, especially in the last half-century, renders it almost im- 

 possible for even the most diligent students to follow and correlate 

 all the work dealing with their branch of knowledge, as indeed is 

 proved by the long years of neglect which Mendel's epoch-making 

 observations had to endure. The author must be thanked for 

 what he has done to digest and bring together in one harmonious 

 whole the most important systems of biological thought since the 

 date mentioned. We note that he promises to follow up this work 

 by two others — "Das Wesen der Theorien in der Biologie und die 

 Logik der Deszendenztheorie" and "Versuch eine Geschichte der 

 Deszendenztheorie." We shall welcome their appearance. 



The Eeport for 1910 of the Lichen Exchange Club of the 

 British Isles (Jeays, 7 St. Martin's, Leicester, price 6d.) shows a 

 membership of twenty-nine, of whom eighteen are contributing 

 members, who have sent in an aggregate of one thousand and 

 thirteen specimens. We observe in the notes on the specimens 

 the names of two of the new species described by Miss Lorrain 

 Smith in this number of our Journal ; it is, we think, generally 

 recognized that the publication of nomina nuda is undesirable. 

 The Secretary, Mr. A. E. Horwood, contributes some notes, which 

 include a notice of Bruce Fink's monograph of the Lichens of 

 Minnesota. 



Correction. — The name appended to the review on p. 38 

 should be " H. W. Lett," not " C. H. Lett " as there given. 



