28 
sections and made a sage mess of it as I have shown in my 
Contributions. An amusing part of this critique is that this Man- 
ual ought to be called Britton’s Manual as it is nearer Britton’s 
Flora than Gray’s Manual. Perhaps there is something to this 
suggestion as Britton’s Flora practically copied the oid Gray’s 
Manual altering the phraseology and then adding a great deal of 
other matter that was not specific, but we have not as yet seen any 
acknowledgment from Britton of his indebtedness to Gray’s Man- 
ual and are not likely to see it. 
he writer had hoped that the book’ would discard some of 
the great defects of the botanies of his boyhood days. In this he 
has not been n wholly disappointed, as there have ee many im- 
sample of how to do it. This was again exetiniined in the re- 
vision of the Onions, and last year in the revision of the Wil- 
adopted, namely taking the same organs in the same order in re- 
lated species. For example in Betula on which the writer is ve 
now working the Manual takes up the leaves in the same order 
B. pendula and B. alba, the twigs are taken up first, then ie 
leaves, catkins and scales in order which is good and a very great 
improvement on the hit or miss way of Gray’ s former manual. 
_ But there the good work stops just as it does in Britton’s Flora. 
Britton’s flora practically copies Gray’s old manual and then 
throws in about as much more stuff with no attempt at antithet- 
ical comparison in any of it, much of which would appiy to any 
one ot Bet fie related species. 
w to be specific let us take B. pendula and B. aiba in the 
Akos, It is impossible to make a suitable comparison with the 
same species in Britton’s Flora as he evidently knows very little — 
about the birches, but we will take up two related species there : 
later. 
the key we find that_B. pendula has “strictly ¢labrous - 
each and leaves” and B. alba has puberu lent or pubescent 
branches and variably hairy leaves. This is the proper panera ‘ 
arrangement if it is true. , But we find at the outset that the 
of pendula are very war ty. Now the Manual in the sae Sia es : 
rsceee 
cin Seats 
