120 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



faction that we learn that the Cambridge University Press have 

 made arrangements for the issue of such a Flora, under the 

 capable editorship of Dr. C. E. Moss, the Curator of the University 

 Herbarium. Dr. Moss, although a comparatively recent addition 

 to the students of the Bi'itish Flora, has already, as our pages 

 have shown, established his reputation as a careful investigator of 

 the life-history of plants and of the works of the earlier writers 

 and observers ; he is, moreover, young, and will thus, in the 

 natural course of events, be able to carry out a scheme which will 

 require time to bring to completion : no better choice could, there- 

 fore, have been made. 



It is expected that the Flora will be completed in ten volumes, 

 which will be issued annually. The cost will be about two guineas 

 a volume. The high price is necessitated by the illustrations. 

 Each species, in addition to many varieties, will be illustrated by 

 Mr. E. W. Hunnybun's beautiful pen-and-ink drawings, about 

 1750 of which have already been completed. Each of Mr. 

 Hunnybun's drawings has been made from living specimens ; 

 each plant has been drawn natural size, and, in addition to a 

 general drawing of each plant, there will be enlargements of 

 critical organs ; and, in the case of critical species and varieties, 

 the name of each specimen drawn from has been vouched for by 

 some competent authority, whose letter of identification has been 

 preserved. In addition to these drawings, there will be numerous 

 photographs of plants in their natural habitats, and maps in- 

 dicating the distribution of certain genera and species will be 

 freely supplied. 



Engler's system of classification will, generally speaking, be 

 followed. This system is becoming very generally adopted, and 

 already there are German, Swiss, and American floras based on 

 this system, which without doubt represents a great advance in 

 several respects on that of Bentham and Hooker. The first 

 volume to appear (which will be vol. ii. of the Flora) will deal with 

 the earlier Dicotyledonous families, from the Salieacece to the 

 ChenopodiacecR. The Monocotyledonous families will appear last. 

 Gymnosperms and Pteridophytes will also be included, and per- 

 haps the Charophytes. In addition to the systematic descrip- 

 tions — which will be in English and not in Latin — of the various 

 groups, there will be short statements of the affinities of the 

 various orders and families, and the geographical distribution of 

 the various groups will be given. So far as is possible, recent 

 accepted work on morphology and ecology will be incorporated in 

 the descriptions. 



Dr. Moss will utilize the services of speciaHsts in several of the 

 more critical genera. Already many well-known botanists have 

 promised their aid, e.g. Mr. G. C. Druce {Cerastium, &c.), Mr. 

 A. B. Jackson (Thymus), Eev. E. F. Linton {Salix), Eev. E. S. 

 Marshall {Cochlearia, Epilobium), Mr. Bennett (Potamogcton), 

 and Mr. H. W. Pugsley {Fumaria). The first volume will deal 

 with such difficult genera as Populus, Quercus, Ulmus, and Sali- 

 cornia, on all of which the author has been engaged for some years. 



