OUR BOOK SHELF. 61 
of being hitherto unpublished, reported extinct, or by reason of 
previous confusion and uncertainty. 
This Catalogue owes its existence to Rule III of the Club, which 
provides for the publication of data relative to the distribution of 
Mosses and Hepaticze, and as a new edition has been called for, 
advantage has been taken of the opportunity to make some 
additions and corrections. 
Note is made of the meagre information furnished from the 
Ouse province (4), the South Welsh (6), and the Orkney province 
(18 B.). 
Many gentlemen seem to have assisted in the work attending 
the compilation and production of this catalogue :—Mr. Henry 
Boswell, of Oxford ; Dr. Carrington, of Eccles; Rev. J. Ferguson, 
of Fern; Mr. J. E. Bagnall, of Edgbaston; are among the more 
familiar names. 
Bryological students will find this a handy pamphlet. 
ferns and Ferneries. By the author of ‘ Anatomy of an Earth- 
worm,” &c., &c. London: Marshall, Japp and Co., 1880. Pp. 
48, figs. 14. 
This brochure is one of those treatises which should be put into 
the hands of a student with his first microscope. In it he will 
see the wonderful forms and structure of ferns, their methods of 
reproduction, and how they may be preserved in their natural 
state ; but above all there are a few pages exceedingly instructive to 
beginners, in which the method of observing the growth of the 
young fern from the spore is clearly set forth. 
How many microscopists are there who possess fern preparations 
in their cabinet, spores and sori, stems in cross and vertical section, 
double and single stained, and yet are totally unacquainted with 
the life-history of a single species, who have looked at spores and 
sori innumerable, and yet never made the effort of allowing them 
to germinate and to observe them in their various and strange 
mutations, 
Ferns are in general, easily accessible, and as they form interest- 
ing and instructive microscopic objects, it is well to know how 
they may be cultivated. This the author tells us in detail, which in 
our opinion enhances the value of the work. ‘Those who have any 
practical experience of fern-growing, have probably discovered a 
truth in the maxim, that what is one man’s meat is another’s 
poison, and therefore it is a good feature to find methods for 
planting more than a dozen species. 
Portfolio of Drawings and Descriptions of Living Organisms ; ; 
