XXX SCIENCE PROGRESS. 



tion accessible to the world. " Catalogue " must be regarded as an 

 official rather than appropriate title, inasmuch as the compiler himself 

 contributes descriptions of seventy new species and two new genera. 

 The latter are Epiiietruiii, an imperfectly characterised genus of Menis- 

 permaceae, of which only the male flowers are known ; and ZaiiJia, 

 Burseraceas. With regard to nomenclature, Mr. Hiern is a staunch 

 follower of Dr. O. Kuntze, except where we can find an older name, no 

 matter how obscure or barbarous ; but there is no doubt a sincere 

 attempt at consistency, and, as current names are cited, it is not so 

 difficult to follow as some recent American works, in which obscure 

 names replace familiar ones in the absence of synonymy. 



A Manual and Dictionary of the Flowering Plants and Ferns. By 

 J. C. Willis, M.A. Vol. i. (pp. xiv., 224) = part i. Vol. ii. (pp. 

 xiv., 430) — part ii. Cambridge Natural Science Manuals. 

 University Press, 1897. 105. 6d. 



This book may be said to consist of part ii. and part i. The 

 author found, as he tells us, that part ii. (the Dictionary) was "wanting 

 in co-ordination," and so wrote part i. (the Manual) "to supplement 

 it". One hardly expects to find "co-ordination" in a dictionary, nor 

 is it easy to see how this quality can be introduced by writing " a kind 

 of index" to the said dictionary, even when this co-ordinating supple- 

 ment or "kind of index" evolves during the writing into "what is 

 practically a text-book of morphology, classification, natural history 

 and geographical distribution ". But let us leave the logical peculi- 

 arities of the book's inception and endeavour to judge each part on its 

 own merits. Part ii., then, is intended to supply in the dictionary form 

 " as much information as is required by any but specialists, upon all 

 those points — morphology, classification, natural history, economic 

 botany, etc. — which do not require the use of a microscope ". Now 

 the want of a book of this kind has been felt by botanists for some 

 years, and part ii. of the present work certainly goes some way towards 

 supplying it. The only question is whether it would not be a great 

 deal more valuable as a book of reference for botanists if it were very 

 considerably larger. But it appears that the author has particularly in 

 view the heeds of the elementary student " when placed before the be- 

 wildering variety of forms in such a collection as that at Kew," and 

 these necessitate the restriction of the work "within a reasonable com- 

 pass ". Of course it is very easy to criticise such a work from an adverse 

 standpoint — omissions there are which we should like to see repaired, 

 but on the whole the book {i.e., the second volume) will, without doubt, 

 abundantly justify its existence, and prove a great boon to all those for 

 whose help it has been written. 



Part i. has to be judged on a very different footing. It is supposed 

 to be intelligible to " any one who has studied any of the small elemen- 

 tary treatises on Botany," and chapter i. (more than half the volume) is 

 avowedly intended to be read by a student in his first year of botanical 



