219 
REVIEW. 
A Handbook of the British Lichens, by ANNIE LORRAIN SMITH. 
8vo. 158 pp. with go figs. in the text. 6s. cloth. London. 
Printed by order of the Trustees of the British Museum. 
To students of Bryology the identification of specimens is 
made easy by the keys given in the excellent works of Dixon 
and Macvicar. In the Monograph of the British Lichens by Miss 
Lorrain Smith no such keys are given and much difficulty is 
encountered by a beginner in running down a species in large 
genera such as Lecanora and Lecidea. This deficiency (if such 
it can be considered in a monograph) has now been remedied 
by the publication of the present Handbook. The author has 
placed lichenologists of all classes under further obligation by 
producing a condensed volume which can easily be carried in 
the pocket. 
There is an introduction of thirteen pages (with many illustra- 
tions) giving a short account of the lichen plant and dealing 
with such matters as constitution, morphology, peculiar vegeta- 
tive structures, reproductive organs, physiology, ecology and 
distribution, economic uses, phylogeny and classification. This 
is followed by a list of abbreviations used in the descriptions. 
In the body of the work the arrangement down to the families 
is like that in the author’s larger book. Following the descrip- 
tion of the family there is a key to the genera. The keys are not 
of a dichotomous type but of the group type, one much to be 
preferred in that it ensures that genera (and species) of close 
affinity do not get widely separated. The genera are described 
and in the majority of cases a drawing is given mostly from the 
plates in the Monograph. In the keys to the species the grouping 
is made on prominent characters of habit, habitat or growth 
form and in most of the smaller genera the morphological 
characters are sufficient for an identification in the field: in the 
larger genera recourse often has to be had to reactions and 
microscopic characters. There is a glossary and a workable index. 
The Handbook is invaluable for what it sets out to be—a key 
to the British species and a portable guide. 
H. H. K. 
